


Willow-Violet: Year Two

by TheFineArtOfBoredom



Series: Willow-Violet Potter [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:01:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27693820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFineArtOfBoredom/pseuds/TheFineArtOfBoredom
Summary: Only days after coming home from her first year at Hogwarts, the news of an alleged mass murder having escaped Azkaban begins to circle throughout Great Britain. But, as it turns out, this alleged mass murderer may actually be completely innocent and Willow has a plan to prove it.Now, with Remus Lupin, Willow’s godfather turned adoptive father, working as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, her plans to assist Azkaban escapist Sirius Black can come to fruition, although they may take longer than she thinks.Willow-Violet: Year Two invites readers to explore Willow’s ever-maturing world, as she deals with newfound truths, experiences, and an exploration into her feelings of something previously undiscovered - the ever-confusing world that is boys.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Ron Weasley/Willow-Violet Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Willow-Violet Potter [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025233
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

“And in breaking news, convicted mass-murderer Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban prison. There is due to be an increase of Dementors around the UK. If any sightings are made of Black, they must be reported to the Ministry of Magic immediately. A special hotline is in the works for such reports; updates will be made later tonight.”

“I still find it odd,” Willow mumbled, placing her knife and fork neatly on her plate.

“What?” Remus said coldly. His mood hadn’t been the best the last few days; he was due to transform later in the night, which would serve as an explanation. Perhaps, the only time Willow had seen Remus truly happy in the last few days was when he had met her at Kings Cross, barely a week prior.

“That Sirius was put in Azkaban,” Willow spoke quietly. “I mean, from what you’ve told me about him, he doesn’t seem like someone capable of – what exactly was he locked up for again?”

“Something he didn’t do,” Remus said through gritted teeth, furiously standing up, grabbing his empty plate and almost throwing it into the sink.

“Yes, but –“

“It doesn’t matter!” Remus snapped, turning to face Willow, who now looked as if she was on the verge of tears, not having expected such a strong reaction. “Sorry,” Remus apologised as the angered expression on his face fell. He hadn’t meant to snap at Willow in such a way, it was just, his transformations heightened his aggression towards others, and this news concerning Sirius; on one hand he was happy about it as, if everything went well, he would be able to see Sirius again, if only briefly, but on the other hand he was terribly afraid that something would happen to him. No one had ever escaped Azkaban, after all, and Remus knew how bad Dementors could be.

For the remainder of the night, Remus and Willow did not speak to one another; they were completely silent. Perhaps, the only noises either of them made, was Remus’ screaming when he transformed – even after almost thirty years, the pain never got any better – and a yelp from Willow after he scratched her on the face, caused only because Willow had initially been too overwhelmed watching Remus to transform herself.

Willow awoke first the following morning, and immediately rushed up to Remus’ bedroom to get him clothes before heading into the bathroom, transforming back into her human form and closing the door. She looked in the mirror above the sink, to see the extent of the damage she had received, hours prior.

The gash began just above her right eye and ended in the middle of her cheek. It was quite deep, and she counted herself lucky to have not lost her eye. She knew though, that the injury was not all she would have to worry about; it was an easy fix after all, but the true damage had been done in the way that, now, Willow had most definitely gained her own number of lycanthropic tendencies, which she was sure she would discover what exactly those were in time.

Wincing, Willow hurriedly placed a mixture of powdered silver and dittany over her wound before rushing back to Remus to apply said mixture to whatever wounds he had gained during his transformation. By now, he had awoken and dressed, and upon seeing Willow he backed himself into a corner of the empty room he used to transform; he felt almost sick; he hadn’t meant to hurt her.

“Willow –“

“It’s alright,” Willow assured, kneeling beside him and applying the silver and dittany mixture to the large, gaping wound on Remus’ chest, before the two sat in silence together. She could see that Remus was starting to tear up; he felt bad for hurting her, she knew, but she was at a loss of what to say to make him feel better.

“Were you and Sirius ever more than friends?” Willow asked quite suddenly, thinking about how strongly Remus had reacted to her pestering the night before. Remus looked up at Willow from the ground. She couldn’t tell if he was mad or not, so, just in case, she retracted her question.

“No, it’s alright,” Remus sighed. “I haven’t been all that honest with you,” he admitted, sitting up. “In our sixth-year he became my boyfriend –,” a smile dawned over his face. A fond memory for him, Willow assumed, “– and we were engaged not long after graduation. We got married that October.”

“I thought so,” Willow said, remembering what Lucius had told her almost a year prior. He had said that they lived together, although had excluded the marriage detail. Oddly enough, he had also excluded Sirius’ innocence, although, in his defence, no one but Remus seemed to claim that Sirius was innocent.

“How do you know Sirius is innocent?” Willow questioned. Of course, she believed herself that Sirius was completely innocent; from all she had heard of him from Remus he didn’t even seem as though he could hurt a fly.

“I was with him the whole time that night,” Remus explained. “We went to check on Peter, but he wasn’t in his hideout, and there weren’t any signs of a struggle; we knew something bad had happened and we raced as quick as we could to check on James and Lily and you two of course –“

“Lucius told me about that,” Willow said. “Well, he told me about you two coming to see us – he didn’t say anything about Peter or a hideout.”

“What exactly did he tell you then?”

“He told me Sirius ran after Peter and killed him, if I remember correctly, and that he was arrested at his home –“

“Here,” Remus said, eyes averted to the ground once more. Willow swore she could see a tear fall down his cheek. “He was arrested here. He was framed by Peter. Dumbledore was there, so was Millicent – you know, the woman we signed the papers with last year; she was Minister for Magic at the time.”

“Why did – how did Harry and I get separated then? Because Lucius never really explained that –“

“Dumbledore believed it was love that stopped Harry from dying. Stupid fucking excuse of his,” Remus mumbled. “Sorry,” he apologised having seen the shocked look on Willow’s face. She had never heard him swear before. Of course, she knew he was capable of such a thing; she had heard from the Weasleys about just how violent his outburst at Dumbledore had been when he was summoned the night Willow, Harry, Ron and Ginny were in the Chamber of Secrets.

“But, yes, anyway,” he continued with a sigh. “It wasn’t love – I mean, of course Lily loved the two of you more than anything else, so did James and Sirius and I but – anyway – it was an Unbreakable Vow between Sniv – sorry – Severus and Voldemort, because apparently he loved her – complete and utter bullshit in my opinion – but anyway – he made Voldemort promise he wouldn’t kill Lily. Now, whether the Vow was intentional or not is the question; but it wasn’t love as Dumbledore believes –”

“If it was love, wouldn’t I have to be hidden from Voldemort as well?”

“Exactly,” Remus agreed. “And I said the same thing to Dumbledore. If it was love, wouldn’t you have to be hidden as well? But, no – anyway, Sirius came home not long after going after Peter and he was, well, a mess if I’m being honest. And whilst Dumbledore was rambling on about how Harry was going to his Aunt and Uncle’s and I was telling him no, because Lily and James never wanted Harry or you to go to them – they specified that if anything happened to them, Sirius would automatically adopt Harry, and I you but of course all that went out the bloody fucking window because Dumbledore’s too old for his own good and the Ministry’s a bunch of bloody –“

“Dad, I get it,” Willow said, trying to calm Remus a bit by placing a hand on one of his. He was very angry, and that was understandable. Willow was too, hearing all of that, but of course, Remus still hadn’t finished.

“Sorry,” he apologised, sighing again. “After – after Sirius was taken, Dumbledore took Harry – and of course, I asked about you then. Thankfully, Millicent has at the very least half a heart and said I would be able to adopt you once you turned eleven. I don’t see why it matters – she said it was because of the lycanthropy but I told her Minerva could take care of you during that time – she would have been more than happy to – but, whatever – what’s done is done. But then, of course, for some fucking reason Millicent decided sending you to Severus was a decent fucking idea and what did he do?”

“Left me to freeze on the Malfoys’ doorstep,” Willow muttered angrily. She found it odd; she had never expected to be so angry about something like this. “Narcissa said I was practically dead when she found me the next morning. You’re right; Ministry are a bunch of assholes aren’t they?”

“I would have said something more aggressive,” Remus said, a small chuckle leaving him. “And swearing now are we? Horrible influence on you, aren’t I?”

Willow couldn’t help but giggle a little. She hadn’t even entirely registered what she had said. She was glad though, that Remus didn’t seem to mind.

“Bound to happen anyway,” Remus said as he stood from the ground with Willow’s assistance. “You are my daughter after all. Anyway, I think breakfast is in order, don’t you?”


	2. Chapter 2

Willow had been to the Burrow once before, at Christmas the previous year, and she had fallen in love with the place almost immediately. Its appearance on the outside was small yet very deceiving as, upon entry, the Burrow became quite large and could easily accommodate guests, even with the seven members that still lived there.

It had been two weeks since Remus’ transformation and all that had followed. Since that day he had become a little more open to talking about Sirius; which made Willow quite happy. Remus had become so open to talking about Sirius, in fact, that he had even showed Willow all sorts of things of his like pictures or, something that very much excited Willow, a stack of papers detailing each and every prank Remus and his friends had committed, written by Sirius and Willow’s father, James. Of course, this was something she had to share with the twins as soon as she could, so she sent them a letter asking when she could see them next, and finally, the day had come.

“You’ve got everything?” Remus asked as he knocked on the front door of the Burrow.

“Yes. And if I have forgotten something, I’ll send an owl,” Willow affirmed before hugging Remus tight. She would be spending the night at the Weasleys, which made her very excited.

“Good. I’ll pick you up before lunch tomorrow. Ah, Molly, good to see you again!” Remus greeted as the front door opened.

“Good to see you again to, Remus,” Molly smiled ushering Willow inside. After affirming the time Remus would come to pick her up, goodbyes were said, and the door was closed. The house was completely empty, except for Molly and Willow, who were now making their way upstairs to the twins’ bedroom. Willow felt a little strange heading up there; last time she had been in the twins bedroom she hadn’t had the greatest of times.

“Arthur’s at work with Percy – he wanted to see what it was like in the Ministry; wants to work there after he graduates – and the kids are outside playing Quidditch,” Molly explained, opening the twins’ bedroom door. “I can call them in, if you’d like.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll go out and see them, I think,” Willow politely declined, walking into the room and placing her bag of things on the already made-up camping bed. “Bit of a mess,” Willow observed, seeing crumbled bits of paper laying on almost every surface.

“God knows what they’re up to. Fred’s usually always hammering onto George how the room needs to stay clean,” Molly sighed, closing the door as Willow left the room and headed downstairs. “I’ll call you all when dinner’s ready,” Molly said with a warm smile. Willow nodded and smiled back before rushing off outside, into the large field, to see the other Weasleys.

It didn’t take long for one of them to notice her presence, and as she bounded over, her face much brighter than Willow had ever seen, she realised it was Ginny, and Willow couldn’t help but smile just as bright, even after Ginny had tackled her to the ground in a _very_ strong embrace. Willow almost felt like she couldn’t breathe with how tight Ginny was holding her, but she enjoyed it nonetheless; she had missed Ginny quite a bit in the last few weeks, after all.

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Willow heard a voice say in the distance as it approached. Willow noticed soon enough that it was Charlie Weasley, one of the eldest siblings that Willow had met at Christmas. She quite liked Charlie; one of her favourite creatures were dragons, and he dedicated his life to rescuing them, along with his girlfriend, Emma, and a few of their friends from Hogwarts. It was when Charlie was showing Willow a burn he had sustained on his arm from a young dragon who had recently been rescued when the other Weasleys noticed their older brother’s disappearance and stopped to see what was going on. As soon as they saw that Willow was there, talking animatedly with Charlie, they all stopped what they were doing, flew to the ground, and caught themselves in a race to see who could get to Willow first.

George had managed to reach Willow first, in the end, also tackling her to the ground, hugging her tight as he did. Willow couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter, finding the situation quite funny but also being very happy to see George.

“We don’t see each other for a few weeks and you’re already as tall as me. Honestly, I’m a bit scared,” Fred said, helping Willow off the ground once George had let go of her, and bringing her into a hug.

“Grow faster,” Willow said with a giggle.

“Did you want to come play with us?” Ron asked. “You wanted to try out this year anyway, didn’t you, for your team?”

Willow was just about to answer when Molly called out to them all, requesting their presences inside as dinner was almost ready.

“Later then,” Ron sighed. “Mum’ll probably let us out again after dinner anyway, if we’re lucky.”

***

“Why in the world are you in my house?”

Remus had just returned home from dropping Willow off at the Weasleys, expecting to be alone. He had had plans to write to Sirius, which he was now allowed to do much more often, considering his recent escape, although such plans were foiled when he walked inside to see Dumbledore in his kitchen, preparing cups of tea.

The last time Remus had seen Dumbledore was two months prior, at the end of May, when Willow had been stuck in the Chamber of Secrets. He still hadn’t forgiven Dumbledore for that occasion; he had left his children, Willow’s brother Harry included, to die.

“Ah, Remus! I thought you would be home soon. Pleasure to see you again,” the old wizard smiled taking the tea-filled cups to the coffee table in the small living room and sitting down on one of the sofas.

“Likewise,” Remus spoke bitterly, sitting uncomfortably on the other sofa, across from Dumbledore.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the news of Sirius,” Dumbledore said, a solemn expression on his face as he took a sip of his tea. Remus did not reply. He did not feel like talking, especially to Dumbledore of all people. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Silence. “Well,” Dumbledore began, setting his tea back on the coffee table, “I was going to ask if you would like to be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor? After all with Mr. Lockhart gone –“

“No,” Remus answered firmly. Having any profession was dangerous for him, with his condition. And, of course, he would have to work with Severus, someone who had always been _very_ determined to leak the truth about Remus’ condition to the world.

“No one will find out about –“

“I said no.”

“But you’ll have the potion, Wolfsbane, free of charge. I’ll be sure to have it made up for you once a month, and, of course, you’ll be able to see Willow much more.”

Remus sighed. He had had Wolfsbane before, not too many years prior, and as horrible as it had tasted, it made Remus, for the first time in a while, actually enjoy his transformations; not having to fear if he was going to unknowingly maul someone to death. And the prospect of spending more time with Willow, or around her at the very least – the prospect of being able to assure she was relatively safe throughout the year – didn’t sound all that bad. Of course, earning a little more than what he already did from Minerva’s allowance was also a decent prospect.

“Fine. One year to start.”

***

“So it was you who did that spell on him?” George questioned, bewildered. Dinner had long since passed, and Willow was sitting by George on his bed, the two deep in conversation, waiting for Fred to finish up getting ready for bed.

“Mhm,” Willow hummed proudly. “I made it too. I wanted to use it on myself,” she admitted. She felt George wrap a comforting arm around her. “It _was_ meant to just erase a section of memory permanently, but I suppose what happened to him happens when you haven’t previously tested a spell.”

“I’m glad you didn’t use it on yourself, in that case,” George said. “You wouldn’t remember me otherwise.”

“And that would be bad, why?” Willow asked cheekily, smiling at the feigned look of shock on George’s face. He was about to say something to her but was interrupted by Fred’s sudden presence in the room. Willow felt a slight flutter-like feeling in her stomach when he entered, shirtless and his hair still dripping wet from the shower he had just had, although she thought nothing of it, instead casting her eyes down and soon moving onto her own bed.

Not even a half hour later did the three fall asleep, and for the first time in a while, Willow’s sleep was fairly easy, up until the early hours of the morning, when all of a sudden, in her mind, she could see the Basilisk coming down on her, fangs bared, which transformed into Lockhart’s face, his lips inches from hers. She could feel tears in her eyes, and she felt as though she couldn’t breathe but, then, her eyes snapped open to see Fred looking over her, his hand on her shoulder, obviously having awoken her. She, quite quickly, crawled onto his bed and cautiously he wrapped his arms around Willow, holding her close to try and keep her calm.

“It was just a dream,” Fred whispered, rocking Willow back and forth ever-so-slightly. “Nothing can hurt you, no one can hurt you. Everything’s alright.”

Soon, Willow’s tears ceased. Within minutes, she had reached a level of calm, and had even managed to fall asleep. Slowly, Fred laid down with her, the two still held onto one another tight, before drifting off back to sleep himself, a smile on his face. She was okay.


	3. Chapter 3

“Willow, take it off her, she didn’t mean to say anything bad.”

Willow sighed, staring coldly at her older brother before looking over at Hermione and silently performing the counter-spell to the Silencing Charm she had placed on her after making a less-than-favourable assumption about Remus.

September had arrived once more and Willow was sitting in what she thought would be an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Remus asleep beside her. The full moon was to come that night, and both Willow and Remus were extremely lethargic, Willow also a bit more aggressive than her usual happy self. She had experienced one full moon, the month prior, after being injured by Remus, and she was slowly learning and getting used to the changes. She also felt a lot more sympathy for Remus; if she thought what she had to go through was bad, she could understand how Remus’ life during the full moons was hellish in nature.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had entered the compartment only minutes after Remus had managed to drift off to sleep, something Willow had persisted on him doing; she didn’t want him to be too tired for his introduction to Hogwarts. He was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all, and he needed to make a good impression.

The rest of the ride was fairly quiet and uneventful, no one wanting to get on Willow’s bad side again, until dusk had fallen, and the train was nearing Hogsmeade Station. Quite suddenly, it had come to a stop. At first, the four students in the compartment thought that the train had simply broken down, but when they were blanketed by a sudden chill, Willow knew it was something much more sinister. It was the moment when all the lights went out that Willow carefully felt her way over to the compartment door, opened it slowly and peaked her head out into the corridor to see what was going on.

“Willow, step back,” a hoarse voice whispered. It was Remus, who had quickly awoken upon feeling the now cold air of the train. “Willow step back!” Remus ordered quietly, after Willow ignored his first warning. But no matter what he said, she couldn’t. She was fascinated by the creature floating swiftly up the corridor; she had never seen such a creature before in her life. The creature with the dark cloak that trailed, and the gruesomely scabbed eyeless face, and the hands with their long-bent fingers that were ever-so-slowly reaching for her. Then, there was a sudden scream. Her scream.

***

“What happened?” Harry asked minutes later. He looked over to see Lupin crouched down beside him, a piece of chocolate in his hand.

“Here,” he said, handing Harry the chocolate. “Eat it. You’ll feel better.”

The compartment had become much more crowded ever since Willow, who was now passed out and laid on one of the seats, let out a scream upon having been victim to the Dementor. Draco had been one of the first to rush in, worried about Willow, of course, before starting to cry upon seeing Harry’s limp figure on the ground; he too had been affected by the Dementor, albeit to less of an extent than Willow. The Weasleys had come next, during the time Draco managed to lay Harry on the other seat, his head in his lap and Draco softly stroking his boyfriend’s hair.

George was quick to rush to Willow’s side, as was Fred, while Ginny and Percy were left watching worriedly in the corridor with Hermione and Ron, who had been kicked out by the twins.

“Draco, isn’t it?” Remus asked, not long after Harry had awoken. The blond boy nodded. “I’ll leave you in charge for the moment. If she wakes up, I’ll be at the front of the train.”

Remus did not want to leave Willow – she had been in the direct line of attack from the Dementor, and he didn’t know how severe the effects would be – but he also needed to send a letter to Dumbledore, informing him of what had happened, and perhaps have a word with the driver of the train. He would have been the one to let the Dementor onto the train, after all.

Remus returned after a few minutes and sat down on the ground beside Willow, seeing that she was not yet awake. Reaching into one of his pockets, he took a bar of chocolate out and broke it up into pieces, giving some to everyone waiting patiently in the compartment and the corridor, to which they were all very thankful for. He was about to put away the remaining chocolate he had saved for Willow, when the train suddenly started once more, waking Willow with a jolt. Remus, glad to see that Willow was okay, sighed, relieved, before taking her into his arms and giving her what remaining chocolate he had. Soon after, the others cleared off, only Draco staying to keep Harry calm, and only minutes after that did the train pull into the station, everyone departing, ready to start their next year at Hogwarts.

***

“How did you get that scar?” Draco asked curiously that night at the Start-of-Term Feast. He had wanted to ask earlier, on the train, although Willow was too much of a mess at the time to supply an answer.

“Werewolf,” Willow said, partially lying. She couldn’t say it was Remus, especially with the amount of people around her.

“Has it done anything to you?” Draco questioned a little cautiously.

“Not really,” Willow replied truthfully. “I mean, I feel a lot more tired, when the full moon comes, and I think I’m also a bit more aggressive – I’m still not entirely sure about that one – I like rawer meat though, which is weird but –“

“So you’re not a full werewolf then?”

“I’d have to have been bitten for that,” Willow explained, piling potatoes on her plate, “so there isn’t anything you need to be worried about. And even if I was, I’d get the potion once a month and it would be fine.”

***

Later on in the night, after the Feast, Willow decided to head out to the forest in her wolf form. Remus had just undergone his transformation in the Shrieking Shack and Willow, thank goodness, had managed to get him sleeping before leaving from under the Whomping Willow and scampering off, deep into the forest. She felt the overwhelming feeling that she needed to hunt for something, and as much as she tried to control it, she couldn’t, so she ended up sneaking up on a rabbit who was hopping around in the moonlight before pouncing, her teeth sinking into its neck as it screamed. She almost felt disgusted, as she devoured the creature, although the cloud that had hung over her mind, the one that had made her feel nothing but the animalistic feel of needing to kill had disappeared. This was a side effect of the scratch she had _never_ expected.

Trotting through the forest now at a steady pace, Willow found herself by a stream, where she decided to have a drink to wash away any leftover rabbit that had been stuck in her teeth. She had just finished drinking when, all of a sudden, she had been tackled by another creature. She growled and bared her teeth at what Willow soon realised was a large black dog that was very bear-like in appearance, before quite powerfully pushing the dog off her and pinning it to the ground. Not even seconds later did the dog quite suddenly transform into a human, one that Willow had become quite familiar with recognising over the last two months.

He looked absolutely terrified, until Willow got off him, wagging her tail and panting happily. Quickly, she transformed herself, quite sure that the man would recognise her. He smiled brightly, seeing Willow, now turned human once more, sitting on the leaf-covered ground by the stream.

“My god, you look just like your mother,” Sirius whispered tearfully before pulling Willow into a tight embrace. As Willow wrapped her arms around her godfather, she could feel exactly what twelve years in Azkaban had done to him; he was so thin Willow could feel all his bones through his skin.

“I thought you were Remus at first,” Sirius admitted, letting Willow go and sitting on the ground beside her. “And then, when I realised you weren’t, I thought you’d kill me.”

“I don’t know about killing,” Willow said with a smile. “Maybe hurting you a bit, if you hadn’t transformed. But now we know what we look like, so we won’t have any more mistakes in the future. Remus is in the Shack by the way, if you’re wondering. He’s asleep at the moment, or at least, I hope he still is.”

Willow smiled as Sirius’ gaunt face lit up at the mention of Remus; to know that the two were so close after twelve long years must have been a comfort to him, although quite soon his expression fell.

“I suppose it’s best I don’t see him yet,” Sirius sighed.

“Probably not,” Willow agreed sadly. “I think it’s better we wait until after we’ve caught the rat.”

“You know?” Sirius asked surprised. He had been expecting to have to tell Willow all about the night Peter betrayed them, and what he looked like.

“I sort of figured it out myself,” Willow admitted. “See, Peter’s posing as one of my best friends’ pet rat – Scabbers, he calls him. He’s missing a toe, and I asked how long he’d been in the family for and Ron, who owns him, said twelve years.”

“Ah, yes, the missing finger that the Ministry thought was enough evidence to arrest me for murder,” Sirius said. “Would you know how to get to him? Peter?”

“He sleeps with Ron, either in his bed or on his bedside table, I don’t entirely remember where,” Willow explained. “Gryffindor Tower. I’ve always got the passwords for it; most of my friends are in there –“

“Where were you sorted?”

“Slytherin. Not even Harry trusted me after that, although he got better with me, especially after the Basilisk in May.”

“Basilisk?”

“Ginny, one of my best friends, got possessed by Voldemort and was taken to the Chamber of Secrets. Ron and Harry and Gilderoy Lockhart and I went down to rescue her, and the Basilisk ended up getting me. I’ve got two scars on me from that.”

“Isn’t that Lockhart fellow in St Mungo’s or something? Wayward Memory Charm, wasn’t it?”

“Not wayward,” Willow smiled proudly. “New Memory Charm I made. I _was_ going to use it on myself because –“

“I know,” Sirius said. “Remus explained in one of his letters.”

Willow hummed in response, looking toward the ground. She still couldn’t help but feel ashamed of what had happened between her and Lockhart.

“Well, anyway,” Willow sighed, moments later, trying her best to block her ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts professor out of her mind, “we’ll have to work together then, if we want to catch him. I think Halloween would be good for us to get him, while everyone’s at the Feast. I’ll get you up to the Common Room.”

“And from there?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. We’ve still got almost two months though. I’m sure we’ll figure it out by then.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Have you got the answers for the Transfiguration homework?” Ron asked. They had been at Hogwarts for almost a week, and Willow had decided, for the first time ever, to sneak herself over to the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Reaching into her bag, she grabbed a bit of parchment where she had written down the answers and handed it to Ron.

“Thanks. You’re a Saint, you know?” he smiled, taking the parchment from her. Willow smiled back, getting back into eating her breakfast before feeling a tap on her shoulder. She tensed slightly; ever since her problems with Lockhart she absolutely hated it when people came up behind her without her knowing. She felt Ron’s hand touch hers lightly under the table, an act of comfort that caused her to blush slightly before she turned around to see Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

“Quidditch tryouts for Slytherin are at four-thirty this Friday afternoon,” Oliver explained with a smile. “I’ve already put in a good word for you with Marcus. He expects to see you there.”

Willow thanked Oliver with a smile as he walked off before turning her attention back to Ron.

“What are you going to try out for?” he asked, hastily copying down the Transfiguration homework. Breakfast would be over soon, and they’d have to head down to their first class.

“Seeker,” Willow said. “Give Harry a run for his money.”

***

**Dear Sirius,**

**Quidditch tryouts for Slytherin are this Friday at four-thirty. I’ll be trying for Seeker position, which will be fun if I get in, because it means I can go up against Harry. Although, being honest, I’m pretty sure his Quidditch skills are better than mine and that he would win either way. I’d love it if you could come and watch, but if it isn’t safe enough, that’s okay too.**

**Fred, George and I are working on a large supply of ageing potion for our start of term prank. We plan on giving it to most of the school and maybe some of the professors. Remus is in on it as well.**

**Anyway, I better stop writing now. The bell’s about to go and I’m about to be late for my first Defence Against the Dark Arts class.**

**I understand if you can’t reply. It would be risky to do so anyway, but I hope I can see you soon.**

**Love,**

**Willow-Violet Potter**

“Done,” Willow said to herself with a smile as she attached the letter to one of the school owls’ legs. The owl hooted quietly before flying quickly out of the Owlery window, off to deliver the letter to Sirius in the Forbidden Forest. Once the owl had flown considerably far out of Willow’s line of sight, she began racing back to her Common Room to collect her books for Defence Against the Dark Arts. Unfortunately, once halfway there, she heard the distant clanging of bells and the sounds of students getting up from their desks, signalling to her that class would begin very soon.

Sprinting was her only option now, as much as she hated to do such a thing; she didn’t want to be late for her first class with Remus. She made it down to her dormitory in under a minute, grabbed her books and sped right back upstairs, although her clumsiness and lesser athletic ability got the better of her and she found herself tripping over her own feet, books spilling all over the floor. She was about to land face-first onto the stone floor, although someone had, quite luckily, managed to catch her.

“Wills, you alright?” Fred asked in a hushed voice, so as to not let others hear as he helped pick up her dropped books, not that it really mattered. People were already passing through the hall, and Willow would have been very surprised to find someone _not_ laughing at her.

“Sorry,” she apologised as Fred handed her books back to her.

“You don’t have to apologise. Now, come on, run along. You don’t want to be late for your first class with your dad now, do you?”

Willow nodded with a smile before racing off once more. She managed to make it to the classroom, and in amidst her rush to get inside, she managed to hit the corner of Harry’s desk and fell to the floor once more. Ron, of course, made it straight to her side to help pick up her books once more, much like he had done the first day they met the year prior.

“He’s not hear yet,” he said, placing Willow’s books on the desk beside his and helping Willow off the ground. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Willow sighed, practically falling into her chair, completely out of breath, not at all phased by the pain in her hip. Ron smiled as he sat down beside her before getting a quill out of his bag. Willow followed suit, although stopped as soon as she saw Remus standing in the doorway.

“There’s no need for books today. We’ll be having a practical lesson. You will only need your wands,” Remus said with a smile. “There’s an interesting creature in the Staffroom I’d like for you all to see.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Willow muttered under her breath, her head falling onto the desk. “I just ran up three flights of stairs!”

Ron couldn’t help but laugh at his friend as he began putting both his and Willow’s books into his bags.

“It’s not funny,” Willow grumbled, standing from her desk, only causing Ron to laugh more. In return, she slapped him on the arm.

“Oh, come on, you’ve gotta admit, it is kind of funny,” Ron said as they headed out of the classroom, following the others in the class.

“No it isn’t,” Willow said, crossing her arms stubbornly. Once she reached the doorway, where Remus was standing, waiting patiently for the whole class to leave the classroom, she looked up and glared at him. She was _not_ happy. Remus responded with a brief apologetic look before pulling his parchment of lesson plans from one of his pockets and showing it to Willow.

“I would have thought you would have remembered,” he said. “And I sent you a note last night about the Boggart in the wardrobe.”

“Yes, well, you didn’t exactly specify where it was, did you?”

During the walk from the classroom to the Staffroom, Willow’s bout of anger quickly dissipated, and after a quick run in with Peeves the Poltergeist and Professor Snape everyone was inside the Staffroom, standing in a group at the back of the room, watching as a large, old wardrobe wobbled and banged against the wall.

“Now, what we have in here is a Boggart,” Remus informed, standing beside the wardrobe. “Can anyone tell me what a Boggart is?”

Two hands shot up into the air, although Willow quickly put hers down, thinking it would be a bit unfair for Hermione.

“It’s a shape-shifter,” Hermione spoke quickly. “It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most.”

“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” Remus said with a smile. “Any additional input from you, Willow?”

“Well,” Willow began, “Boggarts are usually found in dark, enclosed spaces, and no one knows what they actually look like because once someone sees them they immediately assume the shape of their worst fear. But you can get rid of it when there’s more people to handle it because it will get confused.”

“Exactly,” Remus agreed. “This means that we have an advantage over this Boggart. As Willow said, it’s best to have company when dealing with a Boggart to confuse it. I once saw a Boggart try to scare two people by turning into half a slug – not remotely frightening. Now, the spell that repels a Boggart is quite simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart off is laughter. What you must do is force it to assume a shape you find amusing. We’ll practice the charm first, without wands. After me, please; Riddikulus.”

The whole class responded with a Riddikulus of their own, to which Remus complimented before calling Neville to the front of the class. The two spoke together for a bit before Neville readied stance, preparing to take on the Boggart in the wardrobe.

“If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift its attention to each of us in turn,” Remus said. “I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most and imagine how you might force it to look comical.”

Willow paid no attention to what Neville and, soon enough, what her other classmates were doing with the Boggart as she wracked her brain trying to find what scared her most. At first she thought of Lockhart, but soon decided that wasn’t it; she was no longer as afraid of him anymore, especially considering he now had the same amount of ability as a newborn baby. The Dementor on the train also crossed Willow’s mind, as did Voldemort at one point, but none were as frightening to Willow as she initially thought. She could repel a Dementor with a charm, even though she didn’t know how to perform it properly yet, and Voldemort, well, he was practically dead, and even if he wasn’t –

“Willow!” Remus called, snapping Willow from her thoughts. She was a little nervous, heading to the front of the class, wand held in her hand tight and pointed at the Boggart, who was still in the form of a legless spider, thanks to Ron. For the first few seconds, the Boggart did not move as Willow once again tried to think of what she feared most, and then, quite suddenly, pulling her attention back to it, it transformed into – no, it couldn’t be.

The next thing Willow saw was Remus quickly standing in front of her, between her and the Boggart. Willow felt tears running down her cheeks as it transformed again, and it was when Neville was in the middle of finishing the Boggart off a few seconds later when Willow felt her legs hurriedly carrying her out of the room and upstairs to the Defence Against the Dark Arts Office, through the door at the back of the office that lead to Remus’ Living Quarters. Quite soon she was sitting on Remus’ bed, her head buried in her hands as she sobbed.

She hadn’t even known that was a fear that existed inside of her; seeing Remus, the closest person to her, dead, and she wished so desperately that she could get the image out of her mind. She heard Remus enter the room, minutes later; he had ended the class early to see her. Willow couldn’t help but practically run to him and wrap her arms tightly around his waist. She felt his own arms wrap around her, almost as tight, before the two let go of one another and sat down beside one another on the bed.

“I didn’t know it would do that,” Remus spoke quietly, eyes cast to the ground. He felt horrible. If he hadn’t called Willow to face the Boggart, she probably would have been okay.

“I didn’t know either,” Willow admitted in a whisper. “I didn’t even know what I feared most until –“ she stopped suddenly, remembering the form the Boggart took once more. Remus quickly wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close as she began to cry heavier once more.

“It’s okay,” Remus comforted. “You’re not going to have to see that anyway, not for a _very_ long time.”


	5. Chapter 5

**I heard from Sirius that Quidditch Trials would be held today, so I thought you might need this.**

**Love,**

**Remus**

Willow smiled as Oliver lead her down to the Quidditch Pitch, a few days later, on the Friday afternoon, a new Nimbus 2001 in her hands, thanks to Remus.

“Nervous?” Oliver asked as they walked. It had been raining all morning, meaning the two were walking considerably slower than usual, due to the excess mud all over the ground. Willow had also been trying very hard to not let her new broom touch the ground, even though she knew she could just clean it up later, if need be.

“Not at all,” Willow replied, spotting the figure of a black dog hiding under the Quidditch Stands. She smiled; Sirius had come to watch.

Oliver and Willow were the first to arrive down on the Pitch, aside from Marcus Flint, the captain of Slytherin’s team, who Willow always thought to be incredibly intimidating but, after Oliver had introduced the two, she had found he was actually quite pleasant.

Not too long later did those supporting Willow arrive; Remus, Harry, Ron and the twins coming first, Ginny, Draco, Cedric and, oddly, Neville, coming a bit later, as all the other students coming to try out began popping up.

Marcus began the afternoon by running over procedures, rules and safety before grouping the Slytherins into separate tryout groups: Beaters, Chasers, Keepers and Seekers. There were only two others aside from Willow who were trying out for the Seeker position, and she was the youngest. She was also the only girl. Not just out of the Seekers though, but out of everyone trying out.

Knowing she would be last to try out, Willow decided to sit down on a dry spot of the ground and watched as all the older boys tried out for the positions they wanted. Many of them were quite good, especially the boys that were also trying out for Seeker position, although some of them could have improved on quick manoeuvring. Finally, at around quarter-to-six, Willow was able to hop onto her broom and fly around in the cool, Autumn evening air.

“How much better can she do than any of us?” a Slytherin mumbled from down below, on the ground, before snickers and sneers began to emit from him and the others. Willow felt herself grip onto the broom tighter; she was determined to prove the boys below wrong and earn her rightful spot on the team.

“Ready, Willow?” Marcus asked from down below. Willow gave a smile and a thumbs up before Marcus released the Golden Snitch into the air. The Slytherins continued to laugh as Willow flew around the Pitch, almost at a snail’s pace. All this did was cause Willow to smirk to herself; this was where she was better than them. She had learnt quite well the previous year that the Snitch had repeated patterns, and more recently had managed to calculate what order they took.

Her plan thus far was to be slow and conserve as much energy as she could as she searched. Snitches required a lot of speed to be caught, which meant the absolute maximum amount of energy and, in only a few seconds more, the Snitch was due to speed towards Willow from the left side, and so it did.

Within ten seconds of pursuit, Willow caught the Snitch with ease, and landed on the ground to an open-mouthed Oliver, a wide-eyed Marcus, and a very silent yet alarmed group of Slytherins. Willow had managed to beat a record, or absolutely obliterate it in her case.

“Slytherin, meet your new Seeker,” Marcus said breathlessly, a smile making its way onto his face. The other Slytherin’s scoffed in displeasure as Willow’s awfully large group of supporters hastily made their way over. Willow beamed. She couldn’t believe it. She was the new Seeker _and_ had beaten a record.

***

“Loony!”

It had been two days since Willow had become Slytherin’s second Seeker, and she was currently outside in the Courtyard helping Ron with their week’s lot of History of Magic homework, something the two had been putting off for some time, when she had heard the commotion.

“What do you think’s going on?” Ron asked as the two hastily began to pack away their books and parchment and quills.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like the sound of it,” Willow muttered angrily. She knew someone was picking on one of her friends, Luna, to be exact. The two had met when they were eight, and Luna had become Willow’s first friend, aside from her cousin Dudley. They had grown apart, not having seen one another in years, but that did not mean neither cared less about the other. People always called her ‘Loony’ because of her imaginative ways, ever since their primary school days. Sometimes, yes, she said some odd things and talked about strange made-up creatures, but none of that warranted such a horrible nickname.

“I’m not!” Luna cried at the name-caller, who Willow recognised as Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl in Harry’s year. Suddenly, she shoved Luna to the hard, stone ground. A crowd was beginning to gather as Willow began storming her way over to the two, Ron having made no attempts to stop her. She was furious.

“Yes you are! It’s even in your name! Loony Luna!”

Only seconds after Pansy uttered those words, Willow was onto her, first shoving her to the ground in the same manner that Pansy had done to Luna, before punching her in the face and receiving one back from Pansy. As the two girls continued to throw punches, the crowd grew bigger and, unfortunately, louder too as they egged them on for the entertainment.

“What was all that for?” Pansy shrieked as she finally managed to throw Willow off her. Willow didn’t care to answer. She only stood and wiped away some of the blood that was pouring from her broken nose before jumping on Pansy again. By now, Luna was long gone. Off to get a teacher no doubt, but Willow didn’t care. She hated Pansy and she hated the things she did, and she especially hated it when her friends were made fun of.

Quite suddenly, Willow felt someone gripping onto her arms tightly. She tried to wriggle free, she wasn’t done yet after all, but the person wouldn’t let go.

“Alright, Willow, I think we’ve had enough,” Remus spoke calmly as he began to drag her off and away from Pansy, who was now being looked over by Professor Snape.

“No! She deserves more!” Willow screamed angrily, desperately trying to free herself from Remus’ hold but ultimately failing in the end.

“To my office. Now,” Professor Snape ordered in a stern tone, staring devilishly into Willow’s soul as he did. Pansy cowered behind him, fear present in her eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks.

“No,” Willow said defiantly through gritted teeth.

“You don’t really have a choice at the moment, dear,” Remus explained, carefully picking up the seething ball of rage and following Professor Snape back into the castle.

“Miss Lovegood, explain,” Professor Snape said a few moments later as he sat at his office desk. Pansy and Luna were sitting on the opposite side of the desk, both crying and holding packs of ice to their bruises and cloths on their cuts.

“Willow was only trying to help me,” Luna sniffed. “Pansy was calling me names.”

“Lies!” Pansy retorted aggressively, getting up from her seat.

“Git!” Willow shouted, once again trying and failing to free herself from Remus’ grip.

“Miss Lovegood, you’re free to go,” Professor Snape said before turning his attention on Pansy and Willow. “The two of you will serve detention with me for the next month, one hour every Saturday _and_ you can both clean the Potions Room at the end of your lessons. Now, get out.”

“I hate her,” Willow mumbled as she and Remus walked together to his Living Quarters, minutes later, having finally calmed down enough to be released from his grip.

“I can tell. Episkey,” he said dryly, wand pointed at Willow’s nose. A sharp pain ran through it before Willow felt it straighten up again. A cloth was handed to her as more blood began to pour out of it.

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” Willow asked as the two began to walk up the many flights of stairs.

“Yes and no,” Remus replied. “In one case I am mad at you, because you sent another student to the Hospital Wing with whoever knows how many broken bones,” he began to explain, “but on the other hand I’m glad that you stood up for a friend. Perhaps not in the right way, but you still showed great loyalty.”

Moments later, as the two arrived in the Living Quarters and sat down on the bed, Willow smiled.

“Thank you for understanding,” she said quietly, as Remus cleaned up the other wounds on Willow’s face.

“Well, truth be told, your mother did that same thing for me, once upon a time.”


	6. Chapter 6

“What are you all doing?”

Willow, Fred and George all whipped around quickly, surprised and a little worried to hear a voice not belonging to themselves. A few days had passed since Willow’s tiff with Pansy, and she was with the twins, in the Potions classroom, in the dead of the night, assisting in brewing their first batch of Ageing Potion for their start-of-term prank.

“Close the door!” Fred demanded as Ginny quickly walked in. Who knew how she had managed to find them. “We’re making Ageing Potion if you must know. What do you want, anyway?”

Ginny did not say anything. Instead, she only hurried over to Willow’s side and held her empty hand tight under the table. This had been a usual occurrence of the previous few days; Ginny coming to see Willow for comfort, usually in the middle of the night after a particularly rough nightmare. Willow, too, was suffering with nightmares once more. The previous night being so bad, in fact, that _she_ herself went to see Ginny, the two later falling asleep together on the sofa in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Fred rolled his eyes before asking Willow to pass over some newt spleens for the potion, and, soon enough, their first batch of Ageing Potion was complete.

“Good,” George approved. “Now we just need –“

“A hundred more,” Willow sighed.

“What if we split it between us?” Ginny suggested quietly. Willow and the twins looked at her, intrigued. “You know, twenty-five for each of us?”

“Are you sure you’ll be able to brew it?” Fred asked, arms crossing.

“I’m sure Willow could teach me.”

Sure enough, Willow did teach Ginny how to brew a perfect Ageing Potion, and in doing so, they became quite a bit closer during their late-night potion brewing sessions. At first, Willow was a little confused about it all. She didn’t entirely know where they stood; all she really knew was that they were a little more than just friends. But, nonetheless, she quite enjoyed the comfort Ginny gave her. By the time Willow and the twins were slipping the Ageing Potions into the breakfast items in the early hours of the morning, a few weeks later, Willow and Ginny were practically attached at the hip, holding hands wherever they went, embracing one another tightly every night as they fell asleep; safely protected in one another’s arms from any nightmarish memories, when they decided to rear their heads during the night.

Quite boldly, that morning at breakfast, when the twins and Willow witnessed the chaos they had created, Willow, without much thought, kissed Ginny excitedly on the cheek, causing both girls to go red in the face and start giggling, until, of course, Professor McGonagall made her way to the Gryffindor table.

“Which one of you decided ageing potion was a good idea?” Professor McGonagall spoke furiously. No one answered. Instead, they only cowered in their seats. “Right. All of you, my office, _now_.”

“Aging potion,” Professor McGonagall sighed, her head buried disappointedly in her hands as she sat down in her office, minutes later.

“Well, yes, we did use that,” Fred smirked before having to quickly dodge a Charms book that had mysteriously left the Professor’s desk.

“You have to at least admit, Professor, that what we did was pretty impressive,” George said quietly, feeling Professor McGonagall’s glare on him before also having to dodge a book.

“Professor,” Remus spoke hastily, suddenly bursting through the door. “It isn’t as bad as it looks.”

“Isn’t as bad as it looks? Remus we’ve got a whole school that needs to go to the Hospital Wing! And poor Poppy –“ Professor McGonagall said, rising from her seat in a rage.

“Alright, maybe it is but, well, it was nothing compared to what James and Sirius and Peter and I did.”

Professor McGonagall made no sound. All she did was glare at Remus quite menacingly, and Willow could almost see her as a fire-breathing dragon.

“So, maybe we weren’t as bad as them, but they were just having a bit of fun.”

Professor McGonagall sighed, thinking about what she should do. Willow, Ginny and the twins stood in a tense silence.

“Two months of detention, every Wednesday from five till six in the evening,” Professor McGonagall finally concluded, moments later. Everyone sighed in relief before quickly scampering off before Professor McGonagall had a chance to change her mind.

***

“Dad?” Willow asked that night. Dinner had passed, and she and Remus were sitting together in his office. He was marking homework from some of the first-years, and Willow wanted to keep him company. That, and she had an important question to ask concerning her feelings. Remus looked up from the parchment in his hand and hummed in response. “How did you know that you loved Sirius?”

“Ah,” Remus smiled, placing the parchment on the desk. “This is about you and Ginny, isn’t it?” Willow smiled sheepishly and turned her gaze to the ground. She hadn’t thought Remus would have known. “You’re a bit confused, aren’t you?” Willow nodded her head.

“Well,” Remus began with a content sigh, “if I’m being honest I’m not entirely sure when I knew. I do remember though, that by the time I was fifteen, I could not, for the life of me, take my eyes off him. And, of course, every time he came near me I couldn’t help but be nervous.”

“How do I tell Ginny I just want to be her friend again?” Willow asked, quickly changing the subject as she could see Remus’ eyes starting to well-up.

“Just tell her how you feel. I’m sure she’ll understand,” Remus replied quietly before looking at the parchments on his desk once more. Minutes later did the two say goodnight to one another, before Willow made her way to her dormitory, mind racing.

She did like Ginny. She liked Ginny a lot, but ever since they had got closer she had been confused about how she felt towards her. Of course, she had enjoyed their last weeks together quite a bit; having comfort and someone to be so close to her when she needed it, but she didn’t exactly know if she was ready for anything to go further. Willow only hoped now that she wouldn’t hurt Ginny the next morning. After breakfast, though, the next morning, Ginny had taken Willow aside and had told _her_ that she just wanted to be friends again, much to Willow’s relief. And afterwards, the two sat and talked to one another as if nothing had even happened in the first place.


	7. Chapter 7

“You’re sure you know the password?” Sirius asked. It was Halloween, and he and Willow were closing in on the castle. She had snuck out; she needed to be with Sirius for the plan to work after all. Willow nodded her head before the two transformed, once human, now dog and wolf. Willow smiled to herself in her mind upon seeing Sirius furiously wagging his tail when they entered the castle; he hadn’t been there in a _long_ time.

Carefully and quietly, Willow lead the two up to the Fat Lady Portrait, a fairly simple task as the majority of corridors and stairways were clear; everyone was at the Halloween feast, just as they had planned the month prior. Once there, they scouted the area to assure they were alone, before Sirius turned human, Willow staying as a wolf to avoid being recognised by the Fat Lady.

She looked absolutely terrified, the Fat Lady, upon seeing Sirius, for quite obvious reasons. He was a convicted murderer after all; well, at least everyone thought he was. Patiently, Willow waited for Sirius to say the password, but nothing happened. After seconds of silence, Willow looked up to see Sirius’ almost stern face looking down at her.

“You didn’t tell me the password before we came in.”

Willow cocked her head in response. She could have sworn she had.

“Well, that’s just fucking brilliant isn’t it? How in the bloody hell are we supposed to get in there now?”

Willow did not know. But, then, suddenly, she remembered something. Quickly, she dug her snout into one of Sirius’ pockets and pulled out the small silver dagger he carried with him. She sat down and wagged her tail, dagger in mouth, staring up at Sirius.

“Wi – I mean, _Lily_ – you’re not making this any easier. If I use that –“

Willow did not let him finish, instead shoving the dagger into Sirius’ hand for him to hold. He rolled his eyes before turning back to the Fat Lady.

“Open up!” he threatened, dagger held above his head, pointed at the Fat Lady. Willow, beside him, stood, growling and baring her teeth to the portrait, although their intimidation tactic did not work, so Sirius, instead, quite suddenly, drove the dagger into the portrait. As soon as the dagger had moved near, the Fat Lady had jumped to another portrait with a scream, and, soon enough, Sirius and Willow were hearing the sounds of children trampling through the corridors. Quickly, Sirius transformed, and Willow led him out of the castle and back to the forest before sprinting up to Remus’ Living Quarters and hiding under his bed, in case he were to come looking for her.

She awoke early the following morning, still in her wolf form. Scrambling out of under the bed, she turned human and saw a note on the bedside table.

**Meet me in the Hospital Wing**

**\- Remus**

This, Willow could see, was not going to be a pleasant visit.

“There’s rumours around the castle saying there was a wolf that went by the name of Lily with Sirius last night. I know that was you, Willow,” Remus spoke quietly, minutes later as he laid in one of the beds in the Hospital Wing, so as to not let Madam Pomfrey hear.

“It wasn’t me,” Willow lied, albeit to no good. Remus gave Willow a knowing look, causing her to sigh. “Look,” she said, “we weren’t going to hurt anyone; we were just trying to get the rat. I don’t want him locked up anymore, and neither do you –“

“I understand that but what you did was dangerous,” Remus said quickly. “I know you’re just trying to help, and that’s admirable on your part. But Severus is on my case now petitioning to Dumbledore to get me out of the school. He’s convinced that I was the one that helped last night.”

“But, you’ve been in here since yesterday morning.”

“I know that. Fortunately, I’ve got Madam Pomfrey to say that yes, I have been here all night, but still. There’s probably going to be reports in the _Daily Prophet_ about this, and I can guarantee that Severus will be more than happy to provide insider details.

“All I’m asking, Willow, is that you be more careful from now on.”

***

It had been two days since Sirius and Willow had attacked the Fat Lady, and one since Willow had been called to the Hospital Wing to see Remus. She was lined up with some of the Gryffindors and Slytherins outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, a smile on her face. Remus had not yet fully recovered from this month’s full moon, and she had heard from him that Professor Snape was supposed to take over the class. She knew why he would; he wanted people to know that Remus was a werewolf, but Willow would not allow that.

Quite cleverly, she had been in discussion with Peeves that morning, telling him that, at a certain time of the day, in a certain place, he could cause as much mischief as he wanted. All Willow had to do now was wait for Professor Snape to call the class inside. And so he did, moments later as he walked up to them in the corridor before closing the classroom door behind him. He had just told the class to turn to the page of the textbook that discussed werewolves when a loud crash sounded throughout the corridor.

“Morning, Professor,” Peeves greeted with a mischievous grin as Professor Snape opened the door before crashing into another suit of armour down the corridor. Willow had never seen Professor Snape move so fast, and she herself had never moved so fast before, when it came to closing and locking the door with an impenetrable charm.

Not even a minute passed when Professor Snape started hammering on the door, but he was too late. Willow was already at the front of the class, sitting nonchalantly on a chair, her legs rested on the large desk. She waited for Professor Snape to either quieten down or leave before proceeding with the lesson that _had_ been planned.

In her opinion, the class did exceptionally well in their lesson on Hinkypunks; she was even congratulated by them for saving them from having a boring lesson, and she couldn’t help but smile brightly to herself as she sat at the Slytherin Table for lunch after class, especially when she saw the fuming face of Professor Snape sitting up at the High Table. Her moment of bliss was soon challenged, though, when she saw Remus making his way towards her.

“I’m sorry,” she spoke quickly before Remus could say anything.

“Whatever are you apologising for? That was a very successful lesson, if I do say so myself, especially for a first time Professor,” Remus said with a proud smile. “Perhaps I should let you take over the rest of them, when I can’t take them myself.”

Willow smiled again as Remus walked away, up to his own seat at the High Table, and she couldn’t help but notice that Professor Snape was suddenly a lot more furious than before. As if Remus would punish Willow for such a thing.


	8. Chapter 8

“Alright, how many fouls are there in Quidditch?”

“Five hundred and seventy-seven?” Cedric said, an air of hesitation in his voice.

“Seven hundred,” Willow corrected. It was Saturday, a few days after Willow’s very successful Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, and she and Cedric were headed down to the Quidditch Pitch for the first game of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. The two had taken to quizzing one another on Quidditch knowledge as they walked, to occupy their minds before the game.

“When was Quidditch first invented?” Cedric asked in response, coming to a stop in front of the Hufflepuff Changing Room.

“Hm,” Willow thought. “Well, no one has an exact date, but the first game was supposedly played around 1050.”

“Good. I didn’t think you would know that one. I’ll see you up there.”

Willow smiled as she bid Cedric farewell. Running into Harry, she wished him good luck before sprinting up the Quidditch Stands and sitting down beside Ron.

The Quidditch Match was not as entertaining as Willow had thought it would be, quite possibly due to the low visibility. It was raining heavily, and even if she had decided to use binoculars, like most people did, she wouldn’t have been able to see anything. All of the exciting stuff was too far away from her too, as Cedric and Harry had followed the Snitch high above into the clouds.

“Not really a point to this game is there? If we can’t see anything,” Ron sighed, turning to face Willow. He shivered suddenly as a cold wind blew past them. “Getting a bit cold, don’t you think?”

Willow simply nodded her head, feeling a sudden sense of dread flood through her. That cold was not because of the rain, but instead, Dementors. Something Willow was soon able to confirm as she saw her brother falling from the sky.

“Wills? You okay?” Ron asked, noticing the stunned look on Willow’s face. He looked around to see Harry falling from the sky, and as soon as he turned back to Willow, she herself was practically on the ground, completely limp. “Willow?” he questioned quite stupidly before coming to his senses. There must have been Dementors, which would not only explain Harry’s sudden fall, but Willow’s sudden fainting. Thinking quickly, he lifted her into his arms, a challenge proving to be difficult as she was heavier than she looked. He almost shivered, feeling how cold she had become. He then raced her to the other side of the Stands, where Professor Lupin was seated, or rather, had been. It seemed he already suspected that something was wrong.

“Here, I’ll take her to the Hospital Wing,” Remus spoke hurriedly, taking Willow into his own arms. “Thank you, Ron. Go down and see Harry now, will you? Make sure he’s alright. Hermione’s already on her way down.” Ron nodded obligingly and rushed down the stairs, his stomach in knots. He was nervous, although more so for Willow than Harry. Perhaps it was because he knew that Harry would recover fine, but Willow was more of a complicated case, judging by the Dementor attack on the train two months prior. Or, perhaps it was because he liked her a bit more than just a friend.

***

“Eat,” Remus commanded, standing between the Potter siblings, as, ever-so-slowly, the two’s eyes fluttered open. Willow sat up in her hospital bed, looking around quickly to see if there was anyone else in the room aside from Remus and Harry, to which there were none yet, before taking the chocolate Remus was holding out to her. Harry took his only seconds later, and as soon as they finished, a flood of people entered, having patiently waited outside the door to see them.

The twins were the first over to see Willow, Ginny following closely behind before the three of them checked up on Harry. Briefly, she was alone, until Ron came over to see her, having assessed that Harry was alright.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, sitting on the chair beside Willow’s bed.

“Like shit,” Willow said quite bluntly. She saw Fred turn around quite suddenly, quite obviously surprised at the language he had heard come out of Willow’s mouth. Willow rolled her eyes and smiled at him before facing Ron again. “Thank you,” she thanked. She probably wouldn’t have been able to make it to the Hospital Wing as quick as she did without him.

“Well,” Ron began, scratching the back of his neck, his ears beginning to turn red as he started to blush, “I didn’t really do _too_ much.”

“Of course you did,” Willow said, quite suddenly resting a hand on one of his. “I doubt Dad would have been able to make it through the crowd to get to me.”

“Well,” Ron said with a sheepish grin, holding onto the hand that Willow had on his. “Thanks.”

Willow could feel her cheeks warming, upon feeling Ron’s hand holding onto her own. She quite liked Ron; she had for some time. She smiled to herself, wishing this could last forever, until Madam Pomfrey rushed in and ruined it all, sending everyone out of the Hospital Wing so that Harry and Willow could rest and recover. Only Remus remained. He had a question for the two, something that, if they accepted, would most definitely help them in the long-run when it came to the likes of Dementors.

“There’s a charm – the Patronus charm – I think it will benefit the both of you; stop the two of you from having these attacks, so to speak. If you’re interested –“

“Yes,” both Harry and Willow said quite eagerly in unison. They did _not_ enjoy having to spend who knows how long in bed, recovering from a creature like that, especially when its effects on others weren’t nearly as bad.

“Good,” Remus said. “We’ll start tomorrow.”

***

“Now, think of the happiest memory you can think of,” Remus instructed the following morning, a very eager Harry in his office, his wand ready to take on the Dementor, well, Boggart disguised as a Dementor, in the trunk in the corner of the office. “Have you thought of something?”

Harry nodded his head.

“Good. Now the incantation is Expecto Patronum. All you have to do, is think of the memory and say the words, understood?”

Harry nodded once more, being greeted by the ‘Dementor’ barely a second later. He thought of the first time he rode a broom and shouted the words, but to no avail. Soon enough he was on the floor, almost passed out, yet much more determined to excel at the charm. After a bit of chocolate, he was on his feet again, another memory in his mind and another uttered incantation, although, yet again to no avail. Again, he had more chocolate, told Professor Lupin he was not going to give up so easily, before another memory implanted itself in his mind. He didn’t even know if it was entirely real; it had to do with his parents, after all, and he was barely a year old when they had died, but it proved itself useful, as Harry managed to successfully cast the charm.

“Excellent, Harry,” Lupin complimented with a smile. “I think tea is in order, don’t you?”

Harry nodded in agreeance, putting his wand away and sitting on the chair in front of the desk. He was actually quite glad that Professor Lupin had offered for them to have tea together; he had a question to ask.

“Professor?” Harry asked as soon as Lupin sat down, pouring tea for himself and Harry. He hummed in response. “There’s been rumours, I think. People are saying you’re married to – to Sirius Black.”

“Ah,” Lupin sighed. “I was waiting for Severus to talk to the _Prophet_ about that.”

“So, you are then?”

“Yes,” Lupin said truthfully, quickly standing and walking to the door, checking to see if it was locked before sitting down once more. “There’s a lot more to him than you know, Harry.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, for starters he couldn’t hurt a fly even if he tried.” Remus chuckled slightly at the apprehensive look on Harry’s face. “I met him on my first day at Hogwarts. Friends ever since,” Remus began to explain. He took in a deep breath; he hadn’t entirely prepared to tell Harry everything he needed to know, especially so soon, but he figured it was better to tell him sooner rather than later. “We got together in our sixth year, engaged not even a week after graduating, the night of your parents’ marriage to be exact. We were married that October.

“He was like a brother to James. Ran away from home and moved in with him even, during the Summer between our fifth and sixth year. James made him your Godfather once you were born, and I was named Godfather of Willow when she came along the next year. Absolutely obsessed with you, Sirius was, I mean. Wouldn’t leave the house without saying goodbye at least five times.” Remus couldn’t help but shed a sudden tear at the memory, although smiling as he did. Quickly, he wiped it away before speaking once more. “The night your parents were killed, well, you’ve probably heard already that Sirius was the one that told Voldemort where you all lived.”

Harry nodded solemnly.

“Well, last minute we decided that Peter would be the Secret Keeper for your parents. You know, typical. Whoever would expect the small, unassuming one to be the rat of the group?” Remus stood, feeling more tears itching to escape his eyes, and walked over to the window. He looked out at the forest below, taking in another deep breath and talking more. “Sirius and I went to check on Peter on Halloween, but he wasn’t in his hideout. Quite curiously, though, there weren’t any signs of a struggle. We ran as fast as we could down the few streets to the house but –“

“You were too late,” Harry mumbled. Remus could hear the chair moving, followed by Harry’s footsteps before Harry stood beside him. Remus nodded his head and leaned against the wall, trying his absolute best not to break down in front of Harry. He couldn’t help but remember, though, the limpness of James’ body and the fear etched upon his face, and as he remembered the fiercely determined look that stayed etched upon Lily’s face, the face of a mother ready to fight for her children’s survival, a face Remus had seen many a time since meeting Willow when faced with a situation of protecting someone she valued deeply; that was what broke Remus.

He felt absolutely stupid, sobbing as he was in front of Harry, but no matter how hard he tried he could not stop. He was so focused on trying to stop himself from crying any more that he hadn’t even noticed Harry had dropped to the floor, head in hands, silently allowing for his own tears to fall. All this time, it had been Peter, not Sirius. But Sirius was the one that had been imprisoned.

It was the moment Harry screamed, anger fuelling him, when Remus managed to snap out of his own emotional state. Quite instinctively, he sat on the ground beside the boy and placed a careful hand on his shoulder. He almost flinched when Harry touched his hand, believing Harry was going to brush his hand away, instead being quite surprised when the boy held onto it tight.

“Sirius didn’t kill Peter either, did he?” Harry asked quietly, trying but struggling to breath at a consistent rate.

“Framed,” Remus muttered sadly.

“So all this time, I could have lived with him? I could have lived with you? I could have lived with Will –“

“I wasn’t allowed to adopt Willow until she turned eleven,” Remus said quickly. “But, yes. You could have stayed these past twelve years with us.”

“Why couldn’t Willow be there?”

“Because Dumbledore believed it was love that saved you that night, but it was nothing more than an Unbreakable Vow. Maybe you wouldn’t even have been able to stay with us, now that I think about it; Dumbledore sent you to your aunt and uncle _because_ of this whole stupid love belief.”

“Wouldn’t Willow have had to come with me if it had been that?”

“That’s exactly what I said to him. Didn’t believe a word though and sent her to Severus. Almost died two weeks later when she was left on the Malfoys’ doorstep in the middle of the night.”

“Couldn’t that have happened to me too?”

“No,” Remus answered quite bluntly. “The Malfoys’ have their prodigy son, who you know quite well,” Remus began to explain. He smiled slightly seeing the blush popping up on Harry’s face. He could remember a time when he was like that whenever Sirius was mentioned. “And of course,” Remus continued, “they had their prodigy daughter, Willow, who no doubt will probably inherit at least half their fortune one day, much like Draco will. So, you see, a third child, especially another son, would not do.”

Harry did not speak; he couldn’t. Everything he had ever known had just been shattered in those last minutes. Sirius was innocent, Peter was a murderer, and Dumbledore had suddenly become one of Harry’s most hated people he knew. Letting go of Remus’ hand, he stood and ran his hands through his hair with an angry sigh, trying to comprehend everything that he had just learned; trying to come to terms with the fact that his world had just been completely flipped.

“Does Willow know?” he asked finally, moments later as Remus stood up from the floor. Remus nodded and made his way over to the desk, to sit once more, Harry following suit. The tea was now cold, and instead of being drunk was left to sit as Remus and Harry sat together in the silence, until the clock chimed. It was time for Willow’s lesson.

“I understand if you wouldn’t want to come back next week,” Remus said, unlocking and opening the door for Harry. What he had told Harry today was, quite noticeably, a great emotional burden, and having to come to terms with that, along with practicing the art of making a Patronus, something that requires the caster to be happy, well –

“No. I’m coming back,” Harry said. “There’s still Dementors out there, and I want to know more about Sirius, and who better to learn from than you?”

***

“There you are, Harry,” Willow sighed, relieved. She had just finished her Patronus lesson with Remus, and upon entering his office she noted that something wasn’t right. He wasn’t as cheery as usual, as much as he had tried to disguise it, and nor was Harry when he had come to collect her and send her into the office. Her answer had come to her at the end of the lesson, when Remus, quite accidentally, let slip that he had told Harry all about Sirius and the truth surrounding their parents’ deaths, which caused Willow to rush straight to the Gryffindor Common Room after her lesson ended. She found, though, that he wasn’t there, and spent the rest of her afternoon searching for her brother, to make sure he was okay, finally finding him in the Library, studying with Ron and Hermione.

He barely responded upon hearing his name, only looking up from the table at his sister with a fake smile before burying his head into a book again.

“I need to talk to you,” Willow demanded as kindly as possible.

“No,” Harry refused, although Willow had already walked around the table to his side before grabbing a tight grasp of the back of his shirt and forcefully pulling him up from the chair he was seated on. Quite surprisingly, he made no noise for the ten minutes it took for Willow to drag him outside the castle, onto the grounds, but once the two had reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he let out what Willow could only describe as a half-strangled sob.

Willow had only see Harry cry once, when she was near-death in the Chamber of Secrets earlier that year, but even then he didn’t cry as much as he did now. He looked completely helpless as he collapsed onto the ground below, trembling as he let the pained sobs leave his body. Cautiously, Willow knelt beside him and rubbed her hand over his back, hoping this would calm him to a point of speaking to some sort of intelligible degree. She watched as his head ended up falling onto her lap as the sobs came on harder and she almost cried herself; she had never seen her brother so broken, and it made her heart ache more than it had ever done. She began to run her other hand through Harry’s hair gently, hoping this would help in the process of him calming down; it usually always worked for her, and she had shared a lot more surprising similarities with her brother than she had expected, so perhaps this would be another. Soon, though, she discovered it didn’t really help much, although at least he had started talking, or rather, shouting.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me before? Why did I have to be left in the dark about it all? Why –“

“At least you had someone to tell you. Well, someone competent anyway,” Willow said quietly, her head whipping around quickly as she heard the sound of leaves crunching behind her. Sirius.

She knew it was risky, having him come closer, but Harry wouldn’t know that the black dog was Sirius, not for a while, anyway. And as Harry vented out all his feelings, Willow’s fingers still running through his hair all the while, her other hand now holding one of his, Sirius laid by the two, Harry running a hand over his fur every now and then. He questioned the dog’s presence only once, when he had finished letting his feelings out into the air, to which Willow said he must have been a stray, before silence surrounded the three.

When the air finally began to turn cold, and the sun started to set below the horizon, Sirius left the two alone once more and headed back into the forest behind them. Harry had stopped crying now, and once the two had noticed the time, they both stood, Harry feeling at least a slight bit better than before. They were at the doors of the Entrance Hall when Harry, quite suddenly, took Willow into an embrace, something that they hadn’t shared since the Chamber of Secrets.

“Thank you,” he whispered, grateful for the time Willow had taken from her afternoon to make sure he was alright. There weren’t many people willing to do such a thing.

“That’s what sisters are for,” Willow said, holding her brother tight. “Now, come on, we’re missing dinner.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Looking pretty good today, Potter!” Cedric complimented as Willow descended on her broom from the sky above them.

“Reckon you’ll have a tough time winning this afternoon,” Willow smiled as she landed, walking over to the fifth-year Hufflepuff.

“Well, there’s no one I’d rather win against me than you,” Cedric said as he and Willow made their way to the Broom Shed. “You nervous? It is your first game after all.”

“Well, hardly considering the amateurish competition,” Willow smirked, quickly putting her broom away and sprinting towards the castle before Cedric could understand what she had said.

“Amateurish? Is that what you think of me, Potter?” Cedric shouted from behind her, quickly gaining speed before playfully shoving her to the ground. The two laughed as they wrestled one another on the ground, reminiscent of two animals fighting for dominance, before Cedric finally gave in and fell onto the ground beside her, struggling to breath.

“Amateurish indeed,” Willow sighed happily, trying to catch her own breath as she sat on the grass.

“Shut up,” Cedric smiled, hitting her on the arm as he did. A mistake, on his part, as Willow tackled him once more. “Alright, alright, I surrender!” he shouted, pushing Willow off him. “God, you’re an animal,” he said, sitting up and resting his head on Willow’s shoulder as he tried to control his breathing once more.

“Bet you,” Willow said confidently.

“Bet me what?”

“Five galleons that _you’ll_ lose.”

“Deal.”

As it turned out, Willow ended up winning those five galleons from Cedric later that day, although he definitely put up a fight to try and stop her from getting them. He had practically knocked her off her broom at one point, on his way to try and catch the Snitch before her, although, quite hastily she had fixed herself up and zoomed straight past him before he could even blink, catching the Snitch and winning the game. He was proud of her though, Cedric; so proud even, that he ended up joining the Slytherins in their common room for their celebration of Willow. Not wanting to get into too much trouble though, he left after two hours, and Willow followed in his footsteps not long after.

She liked the celebration; it was for her after all. But the noise was starting to get to her, so she decided to sneak up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Upon arrival, she saw a very stressed Ron, sitting by the fireplace, quill in one of his hands and a stern expression on his face.

“History of Magic?” Willow questioned quietly as she sat down beside him. He jumped, having only just noticed her presence in the room, before putting the quill down on the table.

“Yeah. Just this one question I can’t seem to answer.”

“I can do it for you.”

“No, you don’t have –“

But it was too late; Willow had already picked up the parchment and the quill, and within minutes had managed to answer the unresolved question, making sure all the while that the handwriting matched Ron’s, before rolling it up and slipping it into Ron’s bag.

“You’re a lifesaver, you know that?” Ron complimented. Willow smiled, leaning over and letting her head rest on Ron’s lap, closing her eyes as he began to run his fingers through her hair; she liked where this was going, although couldn’t help but feel nervous, especially when it came to telling him what she did next.

“I like you,” she admitted, keeping her eyes closed, not wanting to see how he reacted to the news.

“Me too,” Ron said quietly, causing Willow to open her eyes, smiling brightly. Ron couldn’t help but smile back, and, quite suddenly, a rush of confidence overcame Willow as she sat up for a moment before pressing her lips against his for a brief second before laying her head down again. Ron was completely stunned.

“Wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be,” Willow spoke quietly. She almost didn’t think she would have been able to do it, having painfully associated kissing with her ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for the past year, but she figured she would have to muster up the courage to have her first _consensual_ kiss with someone sooner rather than later, and she was quite pleased that that someone happened to be one of her best friends.

“Is it,” Ron began timidly, “is it alright if you do that again? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course.”

Willow smirked quite mischievously before sitting up again and pressing her lips against Ron’s, this time for a few seconds, causing him to smile once she pulled away, and only minutes later was Willow lying in Ron’s arms, eyes closed as she began to drift off to sleep, a smile on her face. She felt as though she was in heaven.

***

“Alright, so, here’s the deal,” George said under his breath, two weeks later in the Three Broomsticks Inn. He and Fred were sitting either side of Willow, shielding her as much as possible from any unwanted eyes, notably Professor McGonagall’s and Professor Flitwick’s, as they weren’t seated too far from them. She wasn’t allowed at Hogsmeade yet. She was only a second-year, after all. “We’re starting a business and we want you to join us.”

“Business?” Willow questioned as quietly as possible, before quickly ducking under the table as Professor McGonagall whipped her head round to look at the table where she and the twins were sitting. Fred smiled and waved as the Professor rolled her eyes before she turned back to her conversation.

“Yes, a business. Joke business,” Fred clarified, ducking his head under the table to speak to Willow.

“And you want me to be a part of this venture of yours?”

“Yes,” George said as he two ducked his head under the table.

“As long as I get a fair cut of the profit,” Willow said, sliding out from under the table and back onto her chair, although still being cautious to keep her head low.

“Good,” George smiled, standing from his chair. “I think a round of Butterbeers are in order. Won’t be a moment.”

“Why aren’t you staying?” Willow asked Fred as soon as George left.

“Hm?”

“For Christmas. It’s a bit odd that everyone wanted to stay except for you. And what’s gotten into you lately? These last two weeks you’ve been … distant.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Fred answered flatly.

“But –“

Willow could not continue her sentence, as George had returned, three Butterbeers in his hands. This talk would have to wait for later then.

***

“Something’s troubling you,” Remus stated hours later in his office, having been joined by Willow, as per usual, as he looked through piles of students’ homework. He wanted to have it all marked before the beginning of the holidays, which was only a few days away.

“What?” Willow said, suddenly snapping out of her thoughts.

“Something’s troubling you,” Remus repeated, taking off the glasses he used for reading and setting them on the desk. It was about time he took a break, after all; he had been working non-stop the last hour.

“Did you ever get jealous of anyone around Sirius?” Willow asked thoughtfully. She hadn’t had another opportunity to talk to Fred since their outing at Hogsmeade with George, but that proved useful, having given Willow time to think about his behaviour, coming to the conclusion that it could be jealousy, but not entirely being sure.

“No,” Remus replied. “He was actually the jealous one. Why? Have there been some relationship troubles between you and Ron?”

Willow shook her head. “Fred’s been distant,” she said. “I asked why but he didn’t have an answer. Well, actually, he did, he just said it didn’t matter.”

Remus hummed slightly. “Sirius was always distant whenever he was jealous. We barely spoke the year I was with your mother.”

“You were in a relationship with Mum?”

“Fourth year and the start of our fifth year. She was the first person I ever loved, I think,” Remus remembered with a smile. “But, yes, Sirius was not too happy during the time.”

“Hm,” Willow hummed, thinking. Maybe Fred was jealous then. She hadn’t been spending that much time with her other friends, after all, since she and Ron had become a couple. Maybe, in the new year, she would try and spend more time with Fred. That would fix the problem, right?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is why this story has a mature rating. Skip if you do not wish to see Wolfstar ~things~

Remus’ eyes fluttered open as the cold chill fell over him. He shivered as he looked out the window. The outside world was still dark, and a light snowfall was coming down. Hands fumbling tiredly, he grasped the bundle of blankets that had moved to the end of the bed and tried to pull them back over him, so as to be warm again, although they would not budge. Sighing, he sat up to see the problem which turned out to be a large black dog, its tail wagging and a letter in its mouth. A smile was close to forming on Remus’ face – he recognised the dog well – but it did not. He closed his eyes momentarily, and once they were open again the dog had disappeared. He was not surprised that it had been a figment of his tired imagination. Finally pulling the blankets over him, he frowned and fell back into a deep sleep.

Remus awoke, properly, hours later. He took his time, to sit up on the bed, blankets still wrapped around him to stay warm, and looked over at the small clock on the bedside table. Seven minutes passed midday. He hadn’t meant to sleep in so long; it was Christmas after all, and he had family to see. Slowly, he rose from the bed, letting the blankets fall into an uneven heap. For a moment he stretched before running a hand through his messy hair, letting out a sigh as he made his way to the dresser to find an appropriate set of clothes for the day. The snow outside was falling heavier than it had been earlier in the morning, and Remus did plan on going for a stroll after lunch, so he made sure to pull his long, warm coat from the mix of clothes. He was about to leave the room, after having readied for the day, when he saw a slip of paper on the floor; a letter.

Remus could have kicked himself upon seeing the handwriting on the front; Sirius. He really had been there that morning then. For the first time in twelve years, Sirius was _there_. For the first time in twelve years, Sirius was so _close_ and yet, Remus only thought he had been a figment of his imagination. The same figment he had seen over and over again over the years on holidays and birthdays; the figment made from the mind of a man who had his husband painfully and forcefully stolen from his existence.

**Merry Christmas, my dear Moon** , the letter began. Remus felt a tear fall down his cheek. _Moon_. He missed being called that. He missed those quiet nights, when it was just he and Sirius alone, held onto one another tight, and Sirius would whisper that name into his ear.

**I have read every letter you have sent over the past twelve years and have cherished each one dearly. I hope you’re well, and I’m sorry I can’t say much more; lack of proper equipment does that. If anyone asks, the broom is from you – you just forgot to label it.**

**I shall see you again in due time, so do not worry about that.**

**I love you,**

**Padfoot.**

He did not understand what Sirius meant by ‘the broom’, although he could only assume that Sirius had gone out and decided to buy one for Harry, considering his last one was ruined by the Whomping Willow after he fell during the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. For obvious reasons, Sirius was not able to put a name on it. Remus just hoped that he would be able to lie on a believable enough level. Carefully, he slipped the letter into the drawer of his bedside table before making his way down to the Great Hall.

He was the last arrival down. The minimal amount of staff and students, mostly made up of Potters and Weasleys, were already halfway through their meals. As soon as Willow caught sight of Remus she bolted over and hugged him, both of which then exchanged a ‘Merry Christmas’ each before Remus sat down beside Minerva. He did not hang around long; only long enough to eat and assure Hermione that the broom Harry _had_ in fact received was from him before taking his leave, hands in his coat pockets as he headed out of the Great Hall, out of the castle and down to the Forbidden Forest.

The snow had stopped falling, but the air was still freezing, although lessened as Remus walked deeper into the forest, the trees still full of leaves providing him some inklings of heat. He was on his way down to the stream that ran through the forest, a place that he would frequent quite often during his Hogwarts years, usually accompanied by Sirius – especially during June when the weather was hot and they needed time to cool down, or those time when they just needed to be alone with one another – when he felt something push him face-first into the snow-laden ground.

His first reaction was to panic as he turned over and sat up, but then he smiled. He was almost brought to tears when he saw the same black dog from this morning sitting beside him, his tail wagging, and he couldn’t help but laugh when the same dog stood over the top of him and licked his face, over and over again.

The dog finally stopped after a minute or so and sat beside Remus once more, tail still wagging, before running away for a moment and coming back with a stick in his mouth. The dog dropped the stick on Remus’ lap before sprinting after it, Remus having thrown it far off into the distance.

Remus couldn’t have hoped for a better Christmas, when he went back to the castle for dinner that night, having spent the afternoon running around the forest, playing with the dog; although his heart couldn’t help but ache when he made his way up to his Living Quarters that night, after having said goodnight to Willow; he was alone again, after all. Or, at least, he thought he would be.

Upon entering his Quarters, he was greeted by the dog, lying on Remus’ bed, curled up under the blankets. Remus smiled again, although this time quite tearfully as he locked the door behind him. He almost collapsed when he turned back to face the bed, the dog having been replaced by a human. His face was not as full as it once was, now thin and gaunt after years of emaciation, and his hair reached his lower back, in comparison to the shoulder-length it once was, and not to mention how tangled it had become. And yet, Sirius still smiled though it all.

“Hello, Moon,” he spoke quietly as he left the bed, walking over to Remus, a smile on his face. Remus could do nothing but cry as he stood there, and he bordered on sobbing when Sirius wrapped his arms tightly around Remus. He had missed that embrace. He had missed the feeling of Sirius being in his arms. He had missed Sirius in general.

“I missed you,” Remus managed to whisper, holding Sirius to him as close as physically possible, his head buried into the crook between his neck and shoulder.

“So did I,” Sirius said, his voice strained. Remus could tell Sirius was holding back tears of his own, which caused Remus to smile slightly; even after all this time Sirius was still unwilling to show emotions that wavered on negative.

“It’s okay to cry,” Remus assured as he finally pulled away, tears having ceased, before taking off his coat and dropping it on the floor.

“I know,” Sirius said, “but I’m not going to.”

Not even minutes later was Remus on the verge of tears again. Sirius had joined him in the shower, something Sirius was most definitely overdue in having, and it was there where Remus could see and feel just how badly Sirius had been treated in Azkaban. What once was a fairly muscular figure was now reduced to practically a skeleton. Never in his life did Remus think that he would see, nevertheless feel the bones under Sirius’ skin.

He spent what felt like years running his hands over practically every inch of Sirius’ skin, feeling the damage that had transpired from over a decade long of neglect, a hand finally stopping just above his left shoulder.

“Three, nine, zero,” Remus read aloud, his fingers then gliding over the newer tattoo.

“They gave me that on the first day there. It was on the other shoulder at first, but I cut it off two days in. Didn’t really do much though, did it?” Sirius explained, before turning to face Remus and wiping a tear off the werewolf’s cheek. “It’s alright. I’m alright. They can’t hurt me anymore.”

“But –“ Remus tried to retort. He was stopped though, by the sudden feel of Sirius’ lips pressed up against his. God how he missed those lips. How he missed that warmth, and the comfort they brought him. It didn’t take long for a switch to go off in Remus’ mind and for the first time in years a sudden animalistic desire came over him.

Harshly, he pinned Sirius against the wall, holding the man’s arms above his head as their kiss deepened. They were hungry for one another, which was not surprising after twelve years of starvation.

“Remus,” Sirius whispered as soon as Remus finally decided to take his lips away from his husband’s. “Take me,” he ordered, forcing Remus to smirk as he was quickly flipped around, his face now pressed against the wall, a moan escaping him as Remus forced his way inside him. Sirius had no care in the world for what pain he was or would be in, and for once, nor did Remus. They just wanted each other. They _needed_ each other.

“Remus,” Sirius gasped suddenly as he felt a hand wrap around his cock tight, an action that almost caused him to melt completely. God how he’d waited to be touched by Remus like that again. Finally, all those lonely nights in Azkaban had paid off. He then smiled to himself, upon feeling Remus’ mouth toying with the skin on his neck. Remus would always do that whenever he was close to finishing, before sinking his teeth into his neck which would in turn cause Sirius to bleed as if he were simply the prey of a predator. But Sirius never cared for the pain that came with such an action. For that matter he quite enjoyed it; it let him know that he was Remus’, and Remus was his.

“Remus,” Sirius moaned, feeling himself becoming increasingly aroused as Remus glided his hand over Sirius’ erection. Sirius could feel he was almost as close to coming as Remus was, who was now thrusting faster and with increased aggression and who’s teeth were now beginning to dig into Sirius’ skin.

“Remus!” Sirius practically screamed as the two came, one after the other, Sirius absolutely revelling in the feeling of Remus’ seed inside of his body. He almost complained when Remus, moments later, slid out of him; he wanted _more_.

“I’m surprised you still had that in you,” Sirius said breathlessly as he kept himself up against the wall, his body starting to shake.

“So am I,” Remus admitted quietly before the two men began to laugh. It had been so long since a moment like that had been shared; too long for that matter. “You’re bleeding,” Remus stated, observing the wound he had created on his husband’s neck, right where the numbered tattoo was located. He felt bad for doing that, having now snapped out of his animalistic ways, his needs having been fulfilled.

“Good,” Sirius said, finally turning to face Remus. “It just means you’ve taken back what was rightfully yours to have in the first place.”

Remus hummed in response. He had nothing else to say. Quite quickly, his mind had found its way back to the thoughts he had possessed at dinner only a half hour prior; that he wouldn’t see Sirius again after this.

“Darling?” Sirius asked concerned, an hour later as he held onto Remus tight under the blankets of the bed, savouring in the warmth of Remus’ bare skin. He would have to go soon, after all; back to the cold depths of the forest on the grounds below. Remus hadn’t said a word since their time in the shower, and at first Sirius thought it was normal, that maybe he was just tired, especially after Remus had wrapped himself up on the bed in Sirius’ arms, but he had become increasingly despondent after that. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t see you again after this. Not for a while, anyway,” Remus whispered, his eyes blurred from the tears that were welling up inside them. He tried so hard not to cry again but couldn’t help it when Sirius let go of him. He feared that he was leaving, although his worry was disproven when Sirius instead laid his head on Remus’ chest.

“I’m not going anyway yet, love,” Sirius assured, wrapping an arm over Remus’ waist and closing his eyes as Remus began running his hand over his hair. “And I’d give it six months at most until you see me again, hopefully a free man by then with Willow’s help –“

“No,” Remus said sternly. “She’s not allowed to help you anymore.”

“Whyever not? She’s the only one that can help –“

“The last time she did she risked my exposure. I don’t need that happening –“

“You don’t need it, or you don’t want it? You know you’re sounding very selfish at the moment.”

Remus sighed, annoyed.

“Do you want to see me again?” Sirius asked.

“Yes,” Remus answered quietly.

“Then you let Willow help me,” Sirius demanded. “And if, by some chance, Snivellus decides to expose your furry little problem to the world then so be it. It’s not the end of the world,” Sirius said, snuggling as close as he possibly could to Remus. “At the end of the day, you’re still loved. You’ve got me and Willow –“

“Harry,” Remus offered with a slight smile.

“Yes, Harry,” Sirius agreed. “How is he, by the way?”

“Alright,” Remus began. “I’ve been teaching him the Patronus charm since these bloody Dementors aren’t fucking off anytime soon –“

“Sorry about that,” Sirius apologised.

“It’s alright,” Remus assured. “At least he and Willow are protected to some degree from them now. But yes, he’s alright. Gotten closer, the two of us, since the first lesson. I thought he wouldn’t come back after I told him the truth of everything, but he’s surprised me. Even started spending more time with me outside of lessons, almost like when Willow spent her Saturdays with me in Hogsmeade last year, before I got to adopt her.”

“That’s good,” Sirius said with a yawn. He was starting to fall asleep, which signalled that it was time for him to leave Remus alone once more. “I have to go,” he whispered, squeezing Remus as tight as possible, hoping to remember the feel of his body before leaving the bed and dressing back into his prisoners uniform.

“Don’t cry, darling,” he spoke quietly, crouching down beside the bed to face Remus and wiping away the man’s tears. “I’m always around, even if you can’t see me. And I’ll be back again soon. Six months is nothing compared to twelve years.”

“But –“

“It’s hard, I know. God I wish I didn’t have to leave you,” Sirius whispered before giving Remus a gentle kiss on the lips.

“I suppose six months is better than another lifetime,” Remus frowned.

“Exactly,” Sirius said with a slight smile before standing and walking over to the door. “You be good now, Moon. And I’ll see you again soon, alright? I promise. I love you, remember that now won’t you?”

“I love you too,” Remus said, his voice breaking as a new wave of tears arose. And, just like that, the door closed once more, leaving Remus alone in the coldness of his bed and the eerie silence of his Living Quarters. Once more he feared the darkness of the room too, his protector no longer there, now merely a memory once again.


	11. Chapter 11

“You know, she’s not that bad when you get to know her.”

The New Year had passed, and students had returned to Hogwarts for the start of their new term, Cedric included, who was now on his way down to the Quidditch Pitch with Willow, who was huddled close to him for warmth. She had refused to bring a coat with her, stating that practice would warm her up enough anyway.

“Yeah, well, she’s not really wanting to have anything to do with me, is she?” Willow scoffed. There was barely a week until the Slytherin versus Ravenclaw match, and Cedric had decided to take it upon himself to try and convince Willow that Cho Chang, Ravenclaw’s Seeker, was not as bad as Willow thought she was, even though she had been one of the first to hold a grudge against her all because she was a Potter in Slytherin. “You know, she’s probably only good to you because you’re shagging her.”

“We haven’t gotten to that stage yet,” Cedric muttered, almost ashamed, as they reached the Pitch. “Besides even if we were that still wouldn’t be the case – she’s got other friends.”

“Yeah like Marietta,” Willow spat, mounting her broom. “And we all know what a right bitch she is –“

“Willow!”

“Well, she is! Now, get on your broom, we’ve got practice to do.”

***

She had never been as nervous in her life as she was now. It was half past nine in the morning, three days after her last practice with Cedric, and Willow was down in the Slytherin Team’s dressing room with Marcus and Oliver, silently trying to clear her head of whatever nerves she was feeling.

“Good luck, Potter,” Oliver wished, patting Willow’s shoulder lightly before giving Marcus a good luck kiss and heading off.

“Thanks,” Willow mumbled, just after he had left. She had resorted to nervously fidgeting with her own hands, her eyes darting to different places all over the floor.

“You’ll be fine, Willow. Best Seeker since your brother,” Marcus assured, taking a sip of water as the rest of the team filed into the room, Draco included. It was like everyone knew something bad was going to happen during the match, considering this was the first time Draco had come for a meeting before one of Willow’s matches. Quickly, he gathered them into a huddle before talking through strategies with everyone excluding Willow, as Marcus knew she knew a few secrets when it came to the Golden Snitch and was perfectly willing for her to use whatever strategy she needed to have to catch it as quick as possible.

Only moments later were the crowds of students erupting into cheers up in the stands as the teams flew onto the Pitch, the most enthusiastic, of course, coming from the twins. From the sidelines, Draco flicked Willow an encouraging smile, hoping this would calm her to some degree, although it was no use; she was still terrified.

As the two teams got into position, Willow made a fleeting second of eye contact with Cho, who’s stare would have more than likely murdered Willow then and there, if her eyes had the power to do such a thing. Willow quickly averted her eyes to the ground once more, her palms sweating. Soon enough, she stood in front of Cho, facing her, in the middle of the Pitch, which caused her to shake like a leaf in the wind.

“Mount your brooms!” Madam Hooch instructed, walking over in her referee attire to stand in between the two Seekers. “Now, I want a clean game all of you. On the count of three, you’ll hear the whistle, and I expect you all to fly at least to some height on cue.”

 _Three_.

Willow’s hands gripped onto her broom tightly, her legs bent slightly, anticipating the perfect take off.

 _Two_.

Her nerves turned suddenly into slight courage and determination. She had to win.

 _One_.

This was it. Soon, she would be up in the air, catching the elusive Golden Snitch in only a few seconds and prove to Cho that she was better than what she thought she was.

Then, it happened, the whistle blew. Willow pushed hard off the ground, determination rushing through her veins. The Snitch was on its third pattern, which meant Willow would have to stay up high, circle slowly for a few minutes, then stop on the left side of the field where the Snitch would then zoom past her to her lower right. As she circled she listened to the commentary, revealing Ravenclaw was winning twenty-ten.

Circling the Pitch again, she felt as if someone was watching her, but she couldn’t identify if it was the gaze of someone like Fred and his calming brown eyes, or someone like Cho with her hauntingly terrifying brown eyes. She was soon distracted from this sense though, by a glint in her peripheral vision. The Golden Snitch.

Centimetres. That’s how far she had been from it, until Cho starting gaining on Willow, looking extremely agitated.

On the ground, Draco was beginning to speed walk towards Willow’s position. It seemed he knew that Cho was up to something. And then, it happened. It was so quick you could have missed it with a blink. One second Willow was racing away from Cho, fear present in her freckled face, and the next, Cho had rammed into her side, hard, and Willow was falling at what seemed like a million miles an hour.

Fred and George had been the first down to the Pitch, aside from Draco who had thankfully and miraculously caught her, followed by her other friends, Cedric looking particularly livid.

Willow was pale to look at, and even though she was unconscious, the fear from her experience was still etched onto her face. Fred almost immediately took her from Draco’s arms and held her in his own, his hand stroking her face gently, a careful but desperate attempt at trying to wake her up. This was perhaps the first time Fred had ever had anything to do with Willow in the past two months.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and both teams flew down, Cho attempting to leave but Professor Flitwick pulling her back, obviously going to talk to her and hopefully give her a few weeks of detention, for purposely harming another student. And after having checked on Willow for a brief moment, Cedric made his way, quite angrily, over to Cho. He did _not_ like that she had hurt Willow, all because she wanted a chance at the Cup.

“Willow, dear, wake up,” Hooch said frantically, hitting her lightly on the shoulder.

“Please wake up, Willow,” Fred whispered desperately, eyes stinging as he held back tears. His mind was racing a million miles a minute, as he begun to regret jealousy taking over most of his recent interactions with Willow.

_One minute._

Harry delicately placed one of his sister’s hands into his own while Remus began to stroke the girl’s hair. He hated seeing his daughter in such a way, and hoped, for everyone’s sake, that she would wake up soon.

_Two minutes._

Marcus and the team began discussing what would happen. The game would still continue but they needed Draco.

_Three minutes._

Draco agreed to taking Willow’s place as Seeker for the remainder of the match.

_Four minutes._

Any hope for Willow waking up soon was dwindling slowly.

_Five minutes._

Willow slowly and tearfully opened her eyes.

“Oh thank god,” Fred whispered as he took Willow into an embrace. He was going to kiss her cheek, relieved that she was alright, but she turned slightly, and his lips ended up landing on hers for the briefest of moments. Fortunately, no one had noticed, and he was left to carry her up to the Hospital Wing in complete silence.

She felt like she shouldn’t have moved like she did, because now everything would get awkward, but at the same time the kiss felt so nice. It was only a second, but it left its mark, as her lips still tingled minutes later from the feel. But, surely she shouldn’t feel that way. She loved Ron after all, but she never felt like that when she kissed him. And what if he were to have seen what had happened? What would she do then? She didn’t know.

***

“Sirius?” Willow called quietly, late in the night. She had made her way to the Forbidden Forest, against orders – she was meant to stay in the Hospital Wing to be monitored – for an important visit to Sirius. Her mind was still swirling after what had happened that morning, and _not_ because of the physical impact Cho had had on her in the sky. She had an important question to ask, or even questions, rather, but she was unwilling to ask Remus on this occasion. She didn’t want Remus to know what had happened between her and Fred; she felt bad enough about the situation as it was. Of course, she knew Remus wouldn’t make her feel bad about it, but she didn’t want to risk the chance that he might anyway, even if it wasn’t intentional.

“Won’t be a moment,” a voice called from the distance, in the direction of the stream. Willow sat down on a log as she waited the few minutes it took for Sirius to arrive. “Is there something the matter?” he asked upon his arrival, sitting down beside Willow on the log.

“Yes,” Willow said. “I’m not sure how to describe it, really. Basically, what happened, I was knocked off my broom during Quidditch, I fainted, woke up in Fred’s arms and we accidentally kissed, and it felt – well – it felt different to when I kiss Ron, and I’m not sure what to do or how to feel or anything like that.”

“Well,” Sirius began with a sigh, thinking of what to say. “Don’t tell Ron, first of all –“

“That’s fairly obvious.”

“I thought it was, just wanted to make sure you knew, in any case. Have you got feelings for Fred?”

“I don’t think so,” Willow replied honestly. There was that time she spent the night at the Burrow, where she felt a few butterflies in her stomach, although that would have been nerves right? She had never seen Fred like that before, shirtless, although, she hadn’t seen George in such a way either until that night, yet she wasn’t nervous when she saw him like that.

“It was probably just nerves then,” Sirius answered. “Now, back up to the castle with you. You’re meant to be in the Hospital Wing, are you not? Madam Pomfrey won’t be so happy if she sees a student out of bed.”

“How did you –“

“I saw you you fall. Left not long after; too many people around the area. Fall like that would leave you in the Hospital Wing for a bit, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Willow said, standing. “Well, I’ll see you later then,” she said, starting to walk away before she remembered something else she wanted to ask. “Wait – before I go – when are we going to try and get Peter again?”

“February. And make sure you’ve told me the passwords this time.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Gryffindor’s celebrating at the moment,” Willow reported, trying to catch her breath. The week prior, Willow had seen Sirius once more, informing him when Gryffindor would play their next match, thinking it would be a good time to strike again. The two were supposed to meet one another at the edge of the forest just before the game started, although Willow ended up completely forgetting, instead watching the match with Ron. “Once they’ve gone to bed we can go up – don’t look at me like that, I know I’ve made it harder. Here – the passwords,” she said, handing them to a dog-turned Sirius before transforming into her wolf self.

Together the two waited until they say the lights go out in Gryffindor Tower, then, they began to move. Upon arrival at the Gryffindor Common Room, Willow entered first, making sure that everyone had gone to bed, before signalling for Sirius to come inside. Together they made their way up the staircase leading to the Boys’ Dormitories, before Willow came to a halt in front of the dormitory where Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean stayed.

“This used to be mine and your fathers’ dormitory, and Peter’s, of course,” Sirius whispered as he, carefully and quietly, twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Once again, Willow entered first, and as soon as she did, the rat-turned Peter began to scream, having seen her.

Quickly, Sirius rushed in and in their kerfuffle of trying to catch Peter quietly, he managed to slip out of the room through the door and escape, much to Sirius and Willow’s dismay.

“Who’s there?” a voice suddenly spoke in barely a whisper. Ron had awoken. Without thought, Willow dashed through his bed curtains and stood over the top of him, pinning him to the bed and snarling to assure he wouldn’t go anywhere. Sirius then tore the curtains open, eyed off Ron and the bed before hurrying back to the door.

“Gone,” he spoke aggressively. “Come on, Lily, let’s go,” he muttered under his breath before swinging the door open and transforming back into a dog. As they left the Common Room, they heard Ron scream, obviously distraught by his recent encounter with what all but Willow, Remus and Harry perceived as a mass-murderer.

Once Sirius was returned to the forest, Willow dashed back up to the castle and up to Remus’ Living Quarters with the intentions of hiding under his bed again to avoid confrontation, although her plans were foiled as soon as she entered, as Remus was standing by the bed, arms crossed and looking _very_ mad.

“Foolish – absolutely foolish,” he said, trying his best not to raise his voice too much. “He’s been seen again now! They’ll know he’s staying around the area!”

“We were going to go during the match!” Willow fired back, now human once more. “And if you’re going to blame anyone, blame Sirius for still deciding to go along with it!”

“Willow you’re smart enough to know what is and isn’t appropriate to do,” Remus sighed, sitting down on the bed. “Don’t do something like that again. To bed with you now. _Don’t_ wander off anywhere else, do you understand?”

Willow nodded her head. As tempted as she was to wander off and make sure Sirius was alright – she had left too quickly to check on him – she didn’t want to upset Remus anymore.

“Good. Goodnight now, Willow,” Remus spoke, calmer now. Willow did not say anything as she left the room; she didn’t feel like she could. She could understand why Remus was so upset, now that she was left to her own thoughts. He was right; Sirius being seen in the castle twice would most likely spark some sort of investigation from the Ministry, now that they knew he was hanging around. Maybe, she could just wander down and tell Sirius to clear off – stay somewhere else for a while before coming back – but then she thought of Remus and thought better of it, instead resigning to bed, like she said she would go, and falling into a somewhat restful sleep.

***

“Now, werewolves,” Remus began in class a few weeks later. Willow sighed as she laid her head on the desk. Since her last break-in attempt with Sirius, Remus had kept a closer eye on her, as much as he tried to hide it. She was bored, Willow, now only allowed to leave the castle for either Quidditch or nights of the full moon. Even then, on those nights, was she only allowed to be in the Shrieking Shack.

“You alright?” Ron asked, laying his head down on the desk beside Willow.

“Fine. Just bored,” Willow sighed. Ron hummed quietly in response, taking a hold of Willow’s hand.

“Could go to Hogsmeade on the weekend,” Ron offered.

“Can’t. I’d have to try and sneak out but –“

“Ron, Willow, heads up you two,” Remus ordered kindly. “This is important.”

Willow huffed as she lifted her head up. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair, arms crossed. She didn’t understand why _she_ of all people needed to learn this stuff. She knew it all already. For that matter, she _lived_ with a werewolf, arguably she _was_ at least partially a werewolf after that incident in July.

“Can I go?” Willow asked suddenly, just as Remus had begun talking again. “I don’t feel well,” she lied. She knew Remus wouldn’t be able to say no with that excuse.

“Just this once,” Remus said, Willow sighing in relief as she stood. “But I expect twelve inches of parchment –“

“On werewolves. Got it,” Willow said as she left the classroom. She walked down to the Great Hall, to check the time. There was still just over a half hour until class ended. She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it before, leaving in the middle of class to see Sirius, that was, if he was still in the forest.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” someone asked as Willow began making her way to the Entrance Hall.

“Aren’t you?” Willow questioned, turning to face the red-haired boy.

“Free period,” George explained. “What are you doing out of class anyway?”

“Leaving. I’m sick of being stuck in here all day,” Willow said as she left through the doors of the castle, George following behind.

“Why have you been stuck in here, anyway?”

Willow came to a halt. What was she going to say? She couldn’t exactly tell George what she had been up to with helping Sirius into the castle, or maybe, she could. He was one of her best friend’s after all, and she knew quite well already that he was good at keeping secrets, and, god, did she need someone to talk to about everything.

“I’ll explain when we get to the lake.”

***

“So, you’ve been the one trying to help Sirius in all along? Interesting,” George remarked, almost an hour later. “And it’s because he’s innocent and Scabbers is Peter?”

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Willow asked hesitantly. Maybe she shouldn’t have told George.

“No, no, I do,” George assured. “I just don’t understand why you’re not really allowed out anymore.”

“Because he knows if I go out I’m likely to see Sirius again. He’s afraid of Sirius getting seen again and no doubt he’s probably afraid I’ll get caught by the Ministry or something,” Willow explained, pacing back and forth, her arms crossed.

“What if I help you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Cover for you, you know?” George offered. “Besides, I’m a fair bit better at lying about your whereabouts than you are.”

“Alright. I only need to see him once more, to plan our last chance at getting Peter. I’ll tell you when I need you.”


	13. Chapter 13

“I think we should just be friends again.”

Willow stood, dumbfounded at what Ron had just said. He couldn’t be serious, could he? Why did he just want to be her friend again? They’d shared four months and a half months of their life together, and it had been perfect. And they loved each other; Ron said so two weeks ago, as did Willow, after keeping it to herself for so long. He wasn’t serious; he couldn’t possibly be.

“I’m sorry,” Ron apologised, noticing that a tear had slipped from one of Willow’s eyes.

“No, it’s fine. I understand,” Willow lied. But she didn’t understand. She couldn’t understand. Why would Ron say something like that?

“We should probably get going. Professor Lupin will be expecting us –”

“ _You_ go,” Willow said, ushering him away. “I’ll see him later anyway. Just tell him I wasn’t feeling well if he asks,” she instructed, before hurriedly walking away, clutching the books in her arms tightly as she made her way down to her dormitory. This all had to be some sort of nightmare, right? Ron would never say such a thing. Ron would never _do_ such a thing.

Willow did not attend lunch or dinner that day, even when Draco came in to pester her, worried that she’d end up trying to starve herself from whatever was wrong with her. She awoke the next morning, still in her uniform, her face tear-stained; and after readying herself for the day she made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast, still hoping that what had happened the day prior had just been some nightmare, but all hope dwindled when she spotted Ron at the Gryffindor Table. He looked at her briefly but didn’t smile; for that matter he barely acknowledged her existence before turning and talking once more to Harry and Hermione, well, more so Hermione. Harry didn’t seem like he was too interested in talking to Ron. When he saw Willow, he ended up following her to the Slytherin Table. Of course he would have known what happened.

“Willow, you’ve got to eat something,” Harry said halfway through breakfast, before putting a piece of toast on Willow’s empty plate. “Just this, that’s all I’m asking –“

“Why did he do it?” Willow asked desperately. Surely Harry would know something. They were best friends, after all. “Why?” Willow asked again, her voice breaking. Her eyes were quickly blurring as she tried to hold back her tears. She felt one slip down her cheek before Harry stood up, taking her hand and walking her out of the Great Hall. He knew it wouldn’t be the best thing ever for her to cry in front of so many people; she was bullied enough as it was.

“I don’t know why he did it,” Harry answered honestly, minutes later once they had found themselves on the sofa in the Gryffindor Common Room. “You could ask him.”

“I can’t just ask him,” Willow huffed, wiping away a few stray tears. “He’s already started avoiding me like the plague.”

“You know it hurt him too.”

“If it hurt him so much, why’d he do it then?”

***

“You’re distracted,” Fred stated as Willow fell from her broom for the fourth time that afternoon. It had been three days since Ron had crushed her heart into tiny little pieces. Willow had begun to recover from the pain; she was able to get through most of the day without bursting into tears, although she also hadn’t been attending classes since that day. Today had been the first time she went back to attending classes, and it was absolute agony, mostly due to the fact that she couldn’t change where she sat; she was still stuck beside Ron.

“No I’m not,” Willow whispered before falling suddenly to her knees. She sighed to herself, frustrated. She _needed_ to practice. Her final match against Gryffindor was little under a month away. Usually she would be practicing with Cedric, but that afternoon he was busy with Cho. She thought of asking George to keep her company, but she knew that would lead to her talking about what had happened, and that was the last thing she felt like doing at the moment. So, ultimately, in the end, she managed to pester Fred enough, someone who had become quite distant with her due to his strange jealousy of her relationship with Ron, to come down to the Pitch and keep her company. At least then she wouldn’t have to do any talking. She thought she wouldn’t have to, anyway.

“What’s gotten you so upset?” Fred asked, making his way over to the girl and sitting beside her on the grass.

“You’ll get jealous if I tell you.”

“Alright, I know I’ve been a bit of an ass lately –”

“That’s saying it lightly,” Willow said bitterly.

“Yes, well, I’ll keep myself in check now. Promise.”

Willow sighed. She didn’t exactly know how much she could trust him to keep that promise.

“Ron broke up with me the other day,” Willow admitted as tears began to cloud her eyes. She felt Fred tense slightly as she mentioned what had happened. “Please don’t go anywhere,” Willow suddenly pleaded.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Fred spoke quickly, wrapping an arm over Willow’s shoulder. “Whatever you want or need me for, I’ll be here. I promise.”


	14. Chapter 14

“So, tomorrow. Big game,” Harry said as he and Willow sat together in the Quidditch Stands, looking over the Pitch. Weeks had passed since Willow’s untimely break-up, and since then she had been focusing a lot more of her time into Quidditch, as had Harry, which had led to the two practicing together almost daily.

“Yeah,” Willow agreed before the two went silent. They didn’t have much to talk about anymore, having practiced almost daily, which always ended with the two sitting in the Stands and talking about whatever came to mind, although, of course, there was nothing more on their minds to talk about.

“Neville’s got a thing for you,” Harry said suddenly, minutes later. Willow’s eyes widened with surprise. She’d never have expected him of all people to have a thing for her. They had known one another since Willow’s first day at school, but by no means would Willow consider them friends as such; maybe acquaintances at best.

“Is that right?” Willow questioned.

“Seems to be,” Harry said. “You think you’d go out with him?”

“Dunno,” Willow replied honestly. She hadn’t really put much thought into being with someone else. She had just started talking to Ron again, and there was a part of her hoping he’d take her back, even though she knew it wouldn’t happen. She did miss the comfort of having someone around though. “I mean, he’s nice and all but – I dunno. We’ll see.”

***

“Welcome everyone to the most anticipated Quidditch match of the year; Gryffindor versus Slytherin! Where the Potter siblings, Harry and Willow, have been pinned head-to-head for the Quidditch Cup!”

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause as the opposing teams stepped out onto the field.

“Scared, Potter?” Willow asked as the two got into position in the middle of the field, facing one another, both equally determined to win the cup.

“You wish,” Harry replied with a smirk as Madam Hooch instructed the teams to mount their brooms.

“On the count of three, now,” Madam Hooch called, whistle in hand. “One … two … three!”

For the sake of keeping the game fair and giving Oliver a chance at winning the cup before he graduated, Willow decided, as she flew into the air, to completely abandon her usual strategy of memorising the Snitch’s pattern, instead playing like anyone else usually would.

“Nice weather today,” Harry said, flying towards Willow, who was hovering near the Slytherin’s goalposts, before stopping and sitting beside her. He was trying to distract her.

“Very nice indeed,” Willow smiled looking at her brother for a brief second before focusing on looking around the Pitch again. She smirked suddenly, seeing a glint in the distance. She looked to Harry; he too had seen in. Within seconds the siblings were racing to catch the Snitch, although, halfway there Willow had been hit square in the face by a Bludger, a loud crunch sounding from her nose as it did.

Looking around quickly to see who the culprit was as blood poured heavily from her nose, she saw George smiling at her cheekily near the Gryffindor goalposts. Rolling her eyes she sped off once more, gaining on Harry, until George pelted a second Bludger in her direction, grazing her arm and causing her to be distracted for just enough time for Harry to catch the Snitch.

The Gryffindor team was ecstatic, especially Oliver, and Willow couldn’t help but shake her head and smile at the lot as she flew to the ground.

“Sorry,” George apologised, rushing over to Willow as soon as she’d seen her land, his wand pointed at her nose and a cloth in his hand. “Episkey.”

Another crunch sounded from Willow’s nose as her bones were put back into place, causing another release of blood, quickly subdued to a point by the cloth George had given her.

“It’s alright,” Willow said. “I said I’d be impressed if you could break one of my bones, didn’t I?”

That night, Gryffindor celebrated their win, with Willow as a VIP guest, of course. And in amidst of all the action, she ended up finding herself in an awfully passionate kiss with Neville, who had just poured his heart out to her. A part of her hated herself for doing such a thing; she hadn’t really put much thought into it, and ultimately she was more or less using him for her own needs.

As soon as the two had broken away, Willow saw Fred leave the Common Room and head upstairs to the Boys’ Dormitories, but she thought nothing of it. He must’ve been tired, after all. It had been a long day.


	15. Chapter 15

She had missed the forest, much more than she had expected. The sounds of the leaves under her feet as she ran and the smell of the wood, especially after it rained like it had that day, but mostly she had missed Sirius. The last time she had seen him was in February, four months prior, but to her it had felt like years.

She had tried to sneak out at first, with George’s help of course, but Remus had caught the two not even ten minutes into their operation, but after some persuading, Remus, for the first time in months, allowed Willow outside aside from Quidditch, as long as she promised she wouldn’t head to the forest.

There was no doubt in her mind that Remus would have more than likely watched as Willow ran into the forest, disguised from others in her wolf form, but it was vital. She had found Peter in the last week, owing to a tea with Hagrid she had decided to join in on with Ron and Harry. He was hiding in the safety of one of the corners of the little hut by the forest, and within hours had Willow come up with a plan of attack. And as much as she wanted to grab him then and there, it would not have been possible. She would have been discovered by the others as an animagus and Peter would have definitely run away. Plus, she needed witnesses, and that meant trying to get Harry, Ron and Hermione in the same area as her, Peter, and preferably Sirius.

Willow was now deep into the forest, nearing the stream, and she was quickly becoming worried. She had not seen Sirius yet. What if he had gone? What if he had been captured and locked up again? Quietly, she started to let out a whine, hoping that he would hear it, if he was around.

Back and forth she paced making the same sound over and over again, but nothing, so, desperately, she resorted to howling. She needn’t’ve howled twice before a large black dog came bounding towards her from far off in the distance, his tail wagging furiously as he soon pinned her to the ground playfully. But, there was no time to play, and as soon as Willow pushed Sirius off her, he understood. Together they wandered to a clearing by Hagrid’s hut; this was of course part one of the plan.

In Willow’s first Care of Magical Creatures class, months prior, Hagrid had introduced the students to Hippogriffs. Draco had, quite unfortunately, underestimated the creature and ended up earning a few talons to the arm, which then prompted him to send a letter home to Lucius in a moment of anger. He regretted it almost immediately, when he caught wind from Harry that Buckbeak, the Hippogriff that had attacked Draco, was to be put on trial. Harry, Ron and Hermione, and on the rare occasion, Draco, spent all the time they could researching how to win, although to no avail, as Buckbeak was to now be executed, which was a little extreme in all of their opinions.

It didn’t take long for Harry, Ron and Hermione to leave the hut, having tried to comfort Hagrid no doubt, as Dumbledore, the executioner and the Minister for Magic made their way down the hill, and it took even less time for Willow to spot Peter in the hands of Ron. Quietly, Willow and Sirius followed the trio, using the edge of the forest for cover, before Sirius sprinted out to grab a hold of Ron’s leg, Willow following not even a second later, chasing the rat that had slipped from Ron’s hands into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, Sirius now following quickly behind, dragging a screaming Ron behind him.

Once inside the Shrieking Shack, Sirius let go of Ron, allowing for him to cower in the corner of the room as Sirius turned human, Peter instantly running and hiding in Ron’s hands, as if that would help him now.

“Hiding’s no use for you now, Peter,” Sirius cackled.

“What are you on about?” Ron asked quite bravely before Peter started screaming and squirming in Ron’s hands. Instantly, Willow made her way to Ron and stood over him, teeth bared and growling, although at the rat in his hands, not him; never him.

“Ron, are you okay?” Hermione asked bursting into the Shack seconds later, Harry in tow. Quickly, Willow backed off of Ron before she could be seen.

“Where’s the dog?” Harry asked, heaving as he tried to catch his breath. The two of them were quite battered compared to minutes earlier, no doubt because of the Whomping Willow.

“Not a dog,” Ron squeaked. “Harry it’s a trap, he’s an animagus.”

Both Hermione and Harry turned to see Sirius, who Willow was now standing by, a smile on his face.

“This was your intention, wasn’t it Willow? Smart, gaining witnesses,” Sirius complimented before his face fell, suddenly realising he had used the wrong name for her.

“Willow?” Ron questioned quietly from the corner of the room. He couldn’t believe it. All along it had been Willow helping out this mass-murderer.

Instinctively, Hermione reached for the wand in her pocket and pointed it at Sirius and Willow, before another body burst into the room.

“Expelliarmus!” Remus shouted, Hermione’s wand flying out of her hand with an incredible amount of force, before Remus turned to see Sirius and Willow. Not even a second later did a smile appear on his face as he rushed over to the two, taking Sirius into his arms tight before kissing him, quite passionately. Willow couldn’t help but wag her tail; she hadn’t seen Remus this happy in a _long_ time, although her tail wagging soon ceased, as once Remus finished saying hello to Sirius the way he did, he immediately began to scold Willow.

“Remus, we don’t have time. He’s here,” Sirius quickly spoke, stopping Remus in his tracks.

“Who?” Remus asked.

“Peter!” Sirius answered. “He’s there,” he said, pointing at the rat in Ron’s hands.

“Me?” Ron asked, almost offended but mostly confused.

“Not you! Scabbers!” Harry shouted, finally having found a voice.

“You know about this?” Hermione questioned angrily, although Harry did not answer. “I don’t believe it! You and them and Willow –“

The Shack was soon filled with everyone’s voices speaking over the top of one another. Sirius, Remus and Harry were all standing up for Sirius, trying to shut Hermione and Ron up, Hermione retorted saying they were all insane while Ron kept trying to convince everyone that Scabbers wasn’t Peter. Quite loudly, Willow howled, shutting them all up.

“Peter sold my parents to Voldemort, not Sirius,” she spoke hurriedly, having quickly transformed back into her human form. She wouldn’t have much time to explain before Peter tried to run. “Dad and Sirius both went out to see Peter the night Mum and Dad died but he wasn’t in his hideout. They found him running from the house when they got there. Sirius went after Peter, but he was framed, and the Ministry wouldn’t believe him otherwise and, for heaven’s sake, if he was so dangerous I would be dead by now.”

“But how can you prove that Peter’s in here?” Ron questioned, defensive.

“Give them the rat,” Harry demanded as Willow quickly transformed back into a wolf. There was no time to do such a thing though, as Peter slipped out of Ron’s hands, not that it did him much use, as Remus already had his wand at the ready. A spell shot Peter’s way and, almost instantly, the rat turned into a little plump man, who still somehow looked very rat-like, quite possibly due to having spent the last twelve years as a rat.

“Sirius …” he began quietly, a hint of a smile on his face as he reached out to grab Sirius, who quickly flicked him away.

“There’s enough filth on my robes without you touching them,” Sirius growled dangerously.

“Remus …” Peter started, now making his way, quite timidly, over to Remus.

“Don’t,” Remus spoke through gritted teeth.

“Harry,” Peter pleaded desperately, quickly turning to Harry. “Your father –“

“Don’t you dare talk about James in front of him!” Sirius shouted, racing forward to grab Peter by the collar, although he was beaten by Willow who jumped onto the short man’s back, grabbing the scruff of his neck with her teeth.

“Sirius, he was going to kill me –“

“Then you should have died! You should have died rather than betray your friends!”

Sirius began pacing, his hands running through his hair, before stopping once more in front of Peter.

“You should have realised Peter that if he didn’t kill you, we would –“

“No!” Harry suddenly shouted, stepping in between the two. “If you kill him, you won’t be freed. Let the Dementors have him in Azkaban. If anyone deserves to be there, it’s him.”


	16. Chapter 16

“Surely, Dumbledore, you can’t believe the words of a few children, who were out of bounds, mind you,” Minister For Magic, Cornelius Fudge exclaimed in disbelief.

“But, you see, Minister, this isn’t just the word of three underage wizards; I have the evidence.”

“And where would that be?”

Silently, Remus and Sirius entered Dumbledore’s Office, trailed by a red wolf with a screaming rat in its mouth. The door slammed shut before the wolf dropped the rat on the floor, before collapsing to the ground itself, near silent snores emitting from its body only seconds after. Her job had been done, after all. Peter was now in Dumbledore’s Office, about to be transformed. She no longer had to stay awake with worry.

As soon as the wolf collapsed onto the floor in a heap, Dumbledore pointed his wand at the rat on the ground, muttered the same incantation that Remus had the night before in the Shack, and soon enough, standing before them all, was Peter Pettigrew.

The Minister, of course, could not believe what he was seeing, but even then knew to quickly chain the animagus up before using Dumbledore’s fireplace to contact a few Ministry workers; Aurors to be exact. Within seconds, two familiar looking wizards came out of the fireplace and walked straight into the office; a scarred Auror with a missing eye, who Remus and Sirius hadn’t seen in over a decade, known as Alastor Moddy, or ‘Mad-Eye’ as the called him because of his magical eye, and the young female witch Remus had asked for directions in December the year prior. She must have recognised him too as, without her apparent notice, her hair turned a dark shade of red.

The next few minutes flew by fairly fast; Alastor said hello to Sirius and Remus before he and the young witch known simply as Tonks took Peter back through the fireplace, Cornelius Fudge quickly scribbled down a formal pardon for Sirius on a piece of paper along with a trial date and then, seconds later, he was gone, evidently still too shocked to thank Dumbledore.

Remus and Sirius couldn’t contain their joy as together they carried Willow up to Remus’ Living Quarters, placing her down gently on the bed before closing the door and sitting at the desk in Remus’ Office. Finally, after twelve, almost thirteen long years, Sirius was free; or at least as free as he could be until the trial; he didn’t have to go back to Azkaban today, that was all that mattered.

“Took them long enough to believe me,” Sirius muttered, observing his surroundings. Everything was packed neatly away on the shelves, a surprise for him, as Remus, once upon a time at least, was always quite messy. He sighed as he waited for a response, except none ever came. The sound of a chocked sob, from where Remus sat, came along instead.

It didn’t take long at all for Sirius to get out of his chair and walk around the desk before leaning down slightly and wrapping his arms around Remus shoulders, who, in return, grasped onto them tightly. Sirius absolutely hated seeing Remus cry, even if it was caused by joy, or at least he thought those were happy tears he was shedding; he couldn’t be too sure.

“I want to quit,” Remus spoke suddenly, quietly as if he were ashamed of Sirius hearing such a statement.

“Quit?” Sirius questioned, an eyebrow raised, taking his arms from his husband, instead crossing them over his chest.

“Yes, as in, I don’t want to work here anymore.”

“You’re being selfish again,” Sirius said, walking back around the desk so he and Remus were facing one another. He has a little upset with Remus, if he was being honest. For the first time in his life he’d had a stable career, one that paid quite well too _and_ kept him close to family, and he was willing to give it all up just because he was scared of people knowing what he was, even if Remus didn’t want to admit that was the reason.

“Did you say you want to quit?” a voice asked suddenly. Sirius smiled as Willow entered the room, her arms crossed and a very displeased expression on her face. He was reminded very much of Lily, especially in moments such as these during his Hogwarts days whenever Remus felt particularly bad about himself. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree in more ways than looks, it seemed.

“Well –“ Remus began. He himself could tell this was not going to go well.

“You can’t quit!” Willow said, almost shouting. “You’ve finally got a good amount of money again, and you’re able to see Harry and I whenever you want. You’ve also enjoyed teaching as far as I can tell, and if it’s the whole werewolf thing you’re worried about, well, we already had a lesson on them didn’t we? And from what I heard you changed a lot of uneducated minds.”

Remus sighed. It was a shame he could not argue with her; he never could half the time. He looked up at Sirius, but he just shrugged. It was Remus’ decision to make after all, not Sirius’.

“Fine,” Remus concluded. “One more year.”


	17. Chapter 17

“When do you think they’ll notice?” George asked as he approached Willow in the Entrance Hall, followed by his siblings. He, Fred and Willow had spent the night before setting up their final prank of the year, taking advantage of the fact that they could go all out as there was no chance of them getting detention.

“Right about now,” she replied, arms crossed as Professors McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore, along with Remus entered the Hall; one laughing away, another one smiling and trying their best to hold in a laugh, and the other two looking very stern and unforgiving.

“Toilet paper, Willow,” Professor McGonagall began.

“Actually, Professor, Fred decorated your office, not me,” Willow grinned proudly before turning to Professor Snape. “Professor Snape I hope you enjoy your statues; those were my idea.”

Remus doubled down in a fit of laughter, clutching his stomach in his arms. He must have been shown the other offices.

“I teach Potions, Potter, _not_ anatomy,” Professor Snape spoke in his drawling tone, completely and utterly disappointed in the Slytherin student. Once again Remus began howling with laughter and Dumbledore ended up joining in, no longer being able to keep his joy to himself.

“Hate to disappoint,” Fred began, coming up behind Willow and George, “but it’s ten-thirty which means it’s time to head off. It’s been a great year –”

“Your services have been delightful,” George complimented turning to walk away with the crowd of students leaving the castle.

“Farewell,” Willow smiled as she, too, followed the crowd outside the castle.

***

“You’ll send letters, won’t you?”

It was evening, and the Hogwarts Express had just dropped all the students off at Kings Cross. Willow was with Neville, the two saying their goodbyes. They wouldn’t see each other for two months, and as adamant as Willow had been about the relationship in the beginning, she was actually quite enjoying it and would be lying if she didn’t say she would miss Neville over the holidays.

“Promise,” she smiled, wrapping her arms around him before kissing him quite courageously on the lips.

“Willow!” George called from a distance, gesturing for her to come over. Fred was turned away, helping Ginny and Percy with their luggage.

“That’s my cue,” Willow said as she looked over her shoulder at the youngest Weasley twin before running off. “I’ll see you in September!”

“What is it?” Willow asked, trying to catch her breath as she now stood in front of George

“Well, Dad’s taking us to the Quidditch World Cup in August, and he’s bought three extra tickets. Ron’s invited Hermione and Harry, so I just wanted to know, would you want to tag along?”


End file.
